Red Love
by dobrevhs
Summary: Elena Gilbert is a 19 year old girl starting her first year at college. Stefan and Damon Salvatore are brothers who are often mistaken for best friends, also attending college, purely out of boredom. Elena meets the brothers and shows no sudden interest but Damon is very persistent. After spending a lot of time together Damon discovers that Elena has been investigating who killed h
1. Prologue

Elena hurried down the stairs, skipping a few steps on her way, she was excited to tell her father the news about her grades at school, she had received an award for one of her short stories in a writing competition. Elena had always wanted to be a writer, she wanted to study at the best university in the country. Elena flung herself around the corner into the living room with a huge smile on her face but it shortly faded. She looked around the room but all she could see was popcorn spilt on the couch and the football on the television.

"Dad?" Elena shouted. There was no reply.

"Dad...?" Elena repeated but she lowered her voice this time. Jeremy, Elena's 12 year old brother hopped down the stairs and copied Elena's previous actions.

"Where's dad?" He asked her.

"I don't know.." She replied as she grabbed her brothers hand and dragged him into the kitchen. As soon as she reached the kitchen entrance she squealed and pushed Jeremy behind her.

"Elena, Jeremy, run!" Her father demanded as he was pushed against the wall by two large men wearing all black, including black ski masks. There was 4 of them, two of them were holding her father down, the other held a gun in his hand and faced him. The last one turned toward the two children, his eyes could have been blue or green, it was hard to tell. The only colour to be found on these men were the colour of their eyes and a large red symbol on their jumpers, it appeared to be a circle with an A in the middle.

"Dad!" Elena yelled. The man facing them started walking towards the two.

"I said run Elena, run!" Following her fathers orders she backed away quickly back into the living room, bringing her brother with her. The man followed them and cornered them. He said nothing, he only gestured toward the door on their right, it was the only door that the other men hadn't barricaded. He was a young man, not even a man, he could pass as a child, roughly 16 or 17. His eyes were enticing, Elena couldn't look away, she sheltered her brother from him and waited for him to make his move but all he did was gesture toward the door, he was trying to save them. Elena thought over their options for a moment before deciding to follow his advice and exit through the door, she turned around again, facing the kitchen, remembering her father in there, as she put one foot in front of her to start running for him, she heard a gun shot, she stopped and stood still, she covered Jeremy's ears and turned him away. The man gestured one more time toward the door and yelled out "Go!" but it appeared to be in slow motion to Elena, everything around her was. She felt so weak, so defenseless, there was nothing she could do except run. The man ran back into the kitchen and Elena was brought back to this world, tears running down her face, she dragged her brother out the door and they ran, and they ran, and they ran, until they couldn't run anymore.


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to college

I watched as my cab drove through the towering gates of Yale, there were people everywhere, all arriving for their first day. The cab stopped next to a few others. I stepped out, grabbed my bags out of the boot and flung one over my shoulder. I looked around, taking in my surroundings, there were people hugging everywhere, saying goodbye to one another, or hello, students making friends and bonding over shared interests. A blue cameo pulled up next to me, i turned my head toward it and watched as both back doors opened. On the opposite side of the car, out stepped a tall, golden haired, well built man wearing a grey singlet and black hoodie. I watched as the other back door opened, my jaw dropped open but i quickly pulled it back up, a tall, handsome, dark- haired man, wearing jeans, a grey t-shirt and a leather jacket, stepped out fashionably, as if the whole world was watching. They were both wearing sunglasses to hide their eyes. The dark-haired one caught me watching them and smirked at me. I quickly looked away. I tried my best not to stare, but i couldn't help myself, there was something about those boys that engaged my attention. They both walked to the back of the cab and shoved each other playfully before getting out their bags. They smiled at each other and the dark-haired one pushed the other forward. He turned around one last time and looked me up and down. I watched them as they walked towards the large line entering the building. I shook my head before smiling and whispering to myself "Welcome to college." I strutted down the halls, up what seemed 100 flights of stairs and around about 5 corners before i reached my dorm. This place was amazing, ginormous, castle like. I reached the door to my dorm and opened it slowly knowing what was waiting on the other side.

"EEEEP!" Caroline squealed before flinging her arms around me, embracing me in a tight hug.

"Hey Caroline." I introduced with a smirk on my face.

"Are you as excited as i am or what?" She questioned.

"Excited to be roommates? I'm guessing not." I whispered to myself. "Of course i am, it's college, i've wanted this since i was a little girl, since my dad-" I paused for a moment. "Since my dad started telling me about his college experience when i was 10." I continued.

"That's right! And now we're here, and we're going to live it up!" She clapped her hands enthusiastically.

"So what's on the party schedule for tonight?" I asked cheerfully.

"Well, there's a murder house frat party, we could go to that? Word says it's the party of the year, that it's unforgettable, and then if it lives up to it's word we can spend the day in bed tomorrow recovering before classes start the next day." Caroline said with an approving smile.

"Well if it has such a reputation then we have to go." I mocked.

"Exactly! So you might want to unpack your suitcase, the theme is _red_." She added.

"_Red_ huh." I thought over the colour for a moment. _Red_ and i had a very peculiar relationship, _red_ was my favorite colour as a girl because it demonstrated so many different emotions. _Red_ had always been the colour i wrote my stories in, the colour i drew my pictures in, there was just something about the colour _red_ that caught my eye. It was my absolute favorite colour, until it was the colour that drew that symbol on the chests of the men who murdered my father. Now, _red_ and i keep our distance, but apparently tonight we'll be reuniting, against our will.

"Get ready Lena, this is college baby." Caroline concluded before clapping her hands playfully again.

Arm in arm Caroline and I strutted up the front steps to the doorway of the frat house. There was a large sign on the front that read "Murder House" which was the overall theme of the party. I was wearing a short black high-waisted skirt with a _red_ button up loose top and _red_ heels. My hair was curled in large waved ringlets, two tiny parts on either sides were strung around the sides and tied with a _red_ bow at the back. I had finished my look with a matching silver necklace, eyeshadow, and _red_ lipstick. Caroline had dressed up a bit more, she was wearing tight leather leggings and a red blouse tucked into them, topped off with red short cut boots, matching make up, and straightened hair. Caroline's laugh could light up an entire room, she was one of the happiest girls i knew, and one of my best friends. We had grown up together back in Mystic Falls, we competed against each other in the Miss Mystic pageant, which thank God she won, otherwise i would not have heard the end of it and we attended high school together at Mystic Falls high. Mystic Falls was a quiet town, nothing bad really happened there, although Caroline's mum is the sheriff, so we always heard the latest updates on town robbery's and reported missing persons, which mind you, didn't happen very often. Caroline and i even matched our costumes to the 1920s decade dance 2 years ago, it was a quiet, fun filled night, we were chaperoned by our history teacher Alaric. After finishing my trip down memory lane i finally converted Caroline's incessant mumbling into english.

"Are we going to go inside or just have a party out here by ourselves?" She asked sarcastically.

"I mean the breeze is better out here." I joked.

"We can use our phones as lights and i can DJ with my updated playlist, a romantic night for two out on the courtyard, perfect way to kick off the year don't you think?" She continued with her sarcastic tone.

"I think we should do it." I teased.

"No way in hell." She replied with a more serious tone before dragging me inside.

"Hey ladies, i'm Matt, welcome to college" He gestured toward a large crowd of hot sweaty bodies grinding on each other, on the other side of the room were couches, except they were all occupied by boys and girls, girls and girls, and even boys and boys, making out. In the corner was a door that lead to the kitchen. We still stood in the doorway, taking in our surroundings, in front of us was a staircase leading to the floor of dorms which were practically all preoccupied by aroused teens. "This is college" i said to myself. I followed Caroline inside, we squeezed through the dance floor, past the love couch and through the door to the kitchen.

"We need two drinks please." Caroline demanded at the boy standing in front of a large bucket of beer.

"Find your own." He snapped. I frowned and decided to give it a go.

"See we just got here and we _really_ need a drink, to you know, loosen up." I ran my fingers through my hair. "We were hoping to lose control tonight, have some _fun_. Man is it hot in here?" I asked rhetorically before slowly unbuttoning one button on my top, i bit my lip seductively as i revealed more of my chest.

"Can i get you girls a drink?" The boy finally gave in.

"If you insist." I replied. He filled up two _red_ cups with beer from his bucket and handed them to us.

"Where did that come from?" Caroline asked as soon as the boy walked away. She was impressed, she had never seen that side of me.

"What? I was hot. My chest needed some air." I mocked. She chuckled.

I watched Caroline sit on the once preoccupied couch with her bare legs resting on some boys lap. I shook my head as she lent toward him pressing her lips hard on his. After things started to become graphic i turned and looked toward the door, something had caught my eye, it was those boys from this morning, the ones getting out of the car. I replayed that scene again in my mind but this time in slow motion, taking in every detail of their perfect figures. The dark-haired one glanced toward me and gave me a slight wink. I rolled my eyes and walked away back into the kitchen. After subtly checking my phone for any messages from my brother i felt a warm breath on my neck. I turned around quickly and pushed a masculine body off of me. It was the golden haired boy.

"Can i get you a drink?" He asked with a big smile on his face.

"Nope." I answered before pushing past him and joining the hot sweaty dance party. I danced for a while but soon got tired and went to find Caroline, i walked to the bottom of the stairs to check if she had gone upstairs with that boy but my attention was drawn elsewhere, yet again. The dark haired boy, was standing in the corner with some blonde bimbo, she had him pressed against the wall, one of her hands tracing his torso and the other headed for a more pleasurable part of his body. He glanced at me again, but without a smile, or a smirk, or any obnoxious look on his face, and in that moment he considered me, he considered my looks, my obvious attitude and my worthiness of being one of his many companions, and i must admit, i did the same for him. His features were perfect, God like, although he seemed to be a bit of a ladies man, he had a different girl on his arm every time i saw him. Nevertheless he finished his consideration and then stuck his tongue down the blonde's throat. Not wanting to watch anymore of his late night make out sesh i dropped finding Caroline and found a guy of my own.

"I'm Matt." He introduced. It was the guy from earlier that showed us inside.

"Right Matt, i'm Elena, a little heads up, i'm really drunk right now and i'm not going to remember any of this tomorrow. Having said that." I stopped half way through my sentence, grabbed the back of his neck, pulled him in and kissed him. He placed one hand on my lower back, his other hand on my upper back and pulled me in tighter. Everything around me was a blur, and not from the sensation of kissing Mark, Matt? Who knows. But from the high level of alcohol that i had in my system, from that moment on it had taken over.

Beep, beep, beep. It was 7am, monday morning, first day of classes.

"Ugh, shut that thing up!" Caroline yelled at me.

"Can't, first day of classes, get up!" I yelled back at her but she just groaned. Caroline was somewhat of a bad morning person. Every other hour of the day she would be as chirpy as a bird but when it's an hour that's can be counted on 10 fingers then it's not her time to shine. I rolled out of bed and drudged toward Caroline's bed, dragging a pillow with me. I stopped in front of her and then hit her hard with the pillow.

"Rise and shine." I whispered as she sheltered herself from me.

I rushed down the college halls, trying to find my way to my class, i was late, there was no one in sight, i turned around slightly, while still walking forward, to see if i was the only one there and appeared i was, until i turned back around again and walked straight into a tall man.

"I am so sorry!" I started, gathering all my papers off the ground, not having a chance to see the identity of the stranger yet.

"I feel like i'm in a teenage drama movie wow this is embarrassing." I stopped as i looked up and realised the stranger was in fact the golden haired boy from the other day.

"You." I continued.

"You, the girl who so harshly rejected me at the murder house party." He mocked.

"Me, the girl who runs into people in a completely empty hallway." I smirked.

"This is a fun game." He said sarcastically.

I laughed. "I'm Elena."

"Stefan." He replied.

"Now that that very important information is sorted, i have to go, first period of the year and all." I smirked.

"See you around?" He asked.

"Nice bumping into you." I replied, avoiding his question. I ran down the halls, and around the corners until i finally reached my class.

I knocked softly on the door, the class had already begun.

"Sorry i'm late, i uh, i got lost." I apologized.

"I understand, it's the first day, and today is your only exception." He replied. "There's a seat down there, he gestured to an empty seat a few rows down.

"You have got to be kidding me." I whispered to myself as i discovered the dark-haired boy sitting in the seat next to the one that was supposed to be mine. I hesitantly made my way down the aisle and sat on the chair next to him, giving him a sarcastic smile. He stared at me for a while. He didn't say anything, he just stared. I ignored it for as long as i could but eventually i turned around and stared back at him and slightly smiled, my facial expression was what you would describe as "creeped out". He kept staring. I turned away slightly and then looked back, he was still staring, i raised my eyebrows and whispered to myself "Ok then." before turning away. He slightly laughed at my reaction to his weird behavior.

I turned to him again. "Do i have something on my face?" I asked.

"Only your good looks." He flirted terribly.

"Oh wow, excuse me while i go puke." I murmured before turning away again.

"I'm Damon." He introduced.

"And i'm not interested." I replied, staring at the whiteboard at the front of the room, while taking down notes in my book.

"I saw you, getting out of your cab the other day." He started.

"Oh how dare i." I interrupted.

He laughed at my mockery. "And at the party the other night." He continued.

"Did you now?" I turned toward him again and rested my head on my fist to show my disinterest.

"You were the one in _red_." He mocked.

I chuckled and then rolled my eyes, but he payed more attention to his success of making me laugh rather than my body language that followed. "You must be mistaking me for someone else, i was wearing _blue_." I joked.

"So you weren't the hot brunette watching me and what's her name?" He asked.

"Blonde Bimbo?" I answered.

"So it was you." He smirked at his success.

I pressed my finger to my lips. "Shh, some people are trying to learn, learn more than how to unsuccessfully pick up a girl." I replied.

"Then why don't you teach me? Elena, Elena Gilbert." He flirted again.

"I never told you my name. Are you stalking me?" I questioned.

He laughed. "It says your name on your notebook." He he pointed toward the notebook sitting on my desk.

"Seeing as thought you two really love to chat, partners, you two down at the back, browny and blacky." Our professor shouted towards us.

"Us?" I asked with a disgusted look on my face.

"Yes, did i not make myself clear? You guys will be investigating, how easy, William Shakespeare." He continued.

"Um-" I started.

"Can't wait." Damon interrupted. I buried my head in my hands and then ran my fingers through my hair. I was stuck as Damon's partner all semester.

The next night I was stuck in my dorm trying to work on this english task, i was supposed to be working with Damon but every time i try to contact him it doesn't seem to work. I remembered that Stefan was friends with him, they arrived together, didn't they? I mean he should know where Damon is. I walked around the school for around an hour before finding Stefan sitting in the library studying. I smiled at the sight of another student actually doing their work.

"Hey." I said as i sat down across from him.

"Look who wants to talk to me now." Stefan replied sarcastically.

"Actually i just came to get information out of you." I smirked.

"Ouch." He put his hand over his heart as if to say i had hurt it.

"You're friends with Damon right?" I asked.

"Actually we're uh-yeah i am." He replied.

"Do you happen to know what dorm he's in? I have to do an assignment with him, sadly, no offense." I continued.

"None taken. Yeah i do." He wrote down a number on a scrap piece of paper and handed it to me. "Tell Damon i said hi." He shouted after me.

I reached Damon's dorm and knocked repeatedly on the door.

"Stefan did you lose your ke-" Damon stopped as he opened the door. "Elena, what a pleasant surprise."

"Not really, not for you at least, i'm here about that assignment we were given." I replied.

"I never told you what dorm i was in. Are you stalking me?" He mocked. He closed the door behind us and started walking down the stairs of his building.

I laughed. "Your friend Stefan told me."

He chuckled. "Friend, more like, brother." He explained.

"You two are related? How?" I asked confused by their completely different traits.

"By blood, not personality." He replied.

"Clearly." I smirked.

"Look honey as much as i'd love to stay and chat, you know invite you inside, i have places to be."

"We have an assignment to do, Damon." I argued.

"_You_ have an assignment to do, Elena." He testified. We reached the bottom level of the building and i followed him outside, his blue Cameo was parked out the front.

"If you think i'm doing this whole thing you're kidding yourself." I stopped in my tracks, blocking him from moving.

"Fine, i'll help, but for now, you're in my way."

"Where you going?" I asked.

"I'm going out." He answered scarcely.

"Really? I thought you were just going to take a piss in the courtyard but hey i've been wrong before." I said sarcastically.

"It's not really your scene" He declared as he pressed the button on his car keys to unlock the car.

"Oh you have no idea what my scene is." I walked down the stairs and leant on the hood of his car. He smiled at me, not a smirk, not mocking me, he smiled at me with curiosity. He followed me down the stairs and opened the passenger door for me.

"That is the nicest thing i've ever seen you do." I mocked.

"I just can't figure you out, Gilbert." He replied.

"You're a big boy, you'll get there." I smirked and held his eye contact before breaking it to hop in the car. Damon sat in the drivers seat, turned the ignition on and glanced at me one more time before driving off.

* * *

**Hey guys! I know this chapter finished suddenly but i was running out of time to write and i wanted to get the next chapter posted so i'll write the next chapter today and have it posted the same time tomorrow! Tell me what you guys think :) Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 2: Hell

Damon's blue Cameo pulled up on the side of a dark street, we had stopped in front of what looked like a bar, except not really the kind of bar i would normally be seen at but there's a first for everything. Damon came around the side and opened my door for me. He was trying to impress me, that or to keep me in sight, the crowd we were around didn't exactly seem trustworthy. I stepped out of the car and assessed my surroundings. There was a line of motorbikes parked outside the bar with their owners gathered around it, each with a cigarette in hand, on the other side of the street there was a group of men standing outside a liquor store, they were each accessorized with a bottle, laughing loudly at each other. Damon tapped me on the shoulder.

"Come on, let's go inside." He smiled and held his arm out beside him for me to wrap mine around. I rolled my eyes and ignored the gesture pushing past him i walked to the entrance of the bar. The neon sign that was glowing above read "Hell's bar." I shook my head at the sign and whispered to myself "Well that explains everything.". I followed Damon inside, he seemed to know his way around well, there was a fog of cigarette smoke in the air, and every wall was _red_, we trekked up a few flights of stairs to reach the actual bar, Damon and i pushed through a crowd of hot sweaty bodies grinding on each other on the dance floor. We reached a set of pool tables with men gathered around all of them.

"Damon, good to see you." One of them introduced before shaking Damon's hand and giving him a slap on the back. He was tall, rather well built with chocolate brown hair and matching eyes, he was beautiful to sum it up.

"How's it going, Ric?" Damon asked the man.

"Good but clearly not as good as you." He gestured towards me before looking me up and down with a cheeky smirk on his face. "Hey gorgeous, i'm Ric." He introduced.

"Elena." I replied with a friendly smile.

"You going to introduce her to the boys?" Ric asked, turning his attention back to Damon.

"If i had a choice i wouldn't, but i don't, so." Damon answered. I frowned to myself, trying to understand what they were talking about.

"Damon, Damon, Damon!" A man from the end of one of the further pool tables shouted out, he walked towards us.

"Here we go." Damon whispered to Ric.

"What do we have here? Did you bring us a treat Damon?" The man asked as he noticed me standing closely next Damon. I rolled my eyes when i realized what he meant.

"She's not for you, Mason." He stepped possessively in front of me.

"Hey darling." Mason said to me.

"Hello." I replied.

"I'm Mason." He introduced and he took a step closer to me but Damon stepped in front again.

"Relax Damon, buddy, we're just having a chat, this ones yours, i promise." He reassured. Damon hesitated but eventually stepped to the side.

"I'm Elena." I replied.

"Nice to meet you Elena." Mason smiled at me.

"Elena, can i get you a drink?" Ric asked politely.

"Please." I begged and walked over to the bar with him. He ordered us both a beer and we sat down on the barstools. "So that was intense." I began.

"Damon's never liked Mason, none of us really do." He explained.

"Then why stay friends with him?" I asked curiously.

"It's uh- it's complicated. Mason is, Mason is a scary guy, he can be dangerous, it's better to be on his side than anywhere else." He continued.

"I see. So how do you know Damon?"

"Damon and i are good friends, we go way back, we went to high school together, grew up together, we're practically like brothers." Ric replied.

I smiled. Ric seemed like an angel compared to Mason. "What about Stefan?" I asked.

Ric's expression froze. "Stefan-" He began, but was interrupted by Damon shoving him playfully.

"Ohoho so that's how you wanna play hey?" Ric asked Damon before shoving him back.

"Pool match in 5 and we'll find out." Damon suggested with a smirk on his face. I smiled while watching the two friends interact. I crossed and then uncrossed my legs, hoping to draw some attention to myself considering i was feeling like a total outsider. Damon's eyes followed my actions, studying my legs from bottom to top and then realizing that he was being too obvious and looking away.

"Do you play?" Damon asked me.

"I have?" I replied.

"That's good enough, come on." He grabbed my hand and pulled me off the barstool and dragged me toward the pool tables. I sucked at pool, i was just to vain to admit that to Damon of all people.

"Ready to get your ass kicked by a girl?" I asked him sarcastically as he handed me a pool cue.

"I usually prefer other activities when it comes to pool tables, asses and girls, but watching you lose will be just as satisfying." He teased.

I laughed. "We'll see if you're still that keen at the end of the game." I joked.

Damon and i had been playing pool for around half an hour before we were down to the last ball, i was doing all i could possibly could to distract him, even if that meant flirting. Damon came beside me to take the shot but instead of moving out of his way i stood even closer to him, our arms rubbing. He turned and looked at me with a big smile on his face.

"You just use any excuse to touch me don't you." He flirted.

"Take the shot, Salvatore." I teased. He pushed himself closer to me, i shook my head before pushing him off playfully.

"That was too easy." He mocked.

"Or maybe you're just too strong for me, it's impossible for me to fight you off, i mean look at that muscle definition." I ran a finger up and down his right arm, tracing his muscle depth.

"Are you trying to distract me by seducing me?" He asked, his eyes were watching my finger trace his arm, he could feel every single bit of touch, every nerve in his body tingled.

"Is it working?" I asked biting my lip, i moved my finger over and ran it down his chest slowly until reaching his belt, i slowly moved my finger down and after touching the rim of his jeans i pulled my finger away and bit the tip of it seductively. I smiled at him flirtatiously and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Maybe." he replied finally.

"Take the shot." I motioned toward the last ball standing on the table. Damon bent over with his pool cue and took his shot.

"Yes! Sucks to be you!" I squealed as his ball missed the hole by a millimeter.

"Alright alright, i'll admit defeat if you get this, even though you cheated." He stated.

"I did not cheat!" I argued.

"You tried to seduce me in order to distract me." He persisted.

"Actually i did seduce you and it did distract you." I corrected with a victory smile. He brought his right arm around the back of me and leant on the pool table, trapping me.

"Take the shot, Gilbert." He mocked. I stroked his cheek and leant toward him, he followed my movements, as i held his gaze i pushed his arm from behind me and took a few steps back, ready to take my shot.

"You manipulative, seductive, little shi-" "Quiet, i'm about to win a game of pool here." I interrupted, smirking. I took my aim and then hit the ball directly in the centre. I threw my arms up in the air to celebrate my victory. Damon buried his head in his hands.

"You're never going to let this down." He said.

"Of course not. Next rounds on you." I replied.

* * *

Damon stood at the pool tables with Ric, Mason and a group of other guys. Elena was moving to the rhythm of the music on the dance floor, enjoying herself immensely. Damon smiled to himself as he admired her, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, her smile could light up the dullest of rooms, it was radiant, she was radiant, she shined like a bright light. Damon had never looked at anyone the way he looked at Elena, his eyes could see only her. He wanted to spend every single waking moment staring at her beauty, he felt privileged to be in her presence, he could feel his emotions heighten when he was around her, he could feel himself falling for music cut as three large men barged up the stairs, Damon turned around and saw them standing there, they had guns in their hands, occasionally shooting the roof to gain peoples attention.

"Where is he?" They shouted.

Elena stood shocked, with her jaw dropped to the ground, crowds scrambled and she looked hopelessly toward the pool tables for Damon but he wasn't there. Suddenly someone grabbed her arm and pulled her away, she was dragged around the corner before she fought the person off. She sighed with relief at the sight of Damon standing in front of her.

"It's just me, come on we gotta go." Damon insisted, he pointed toward the window at the end of the hallway that was supposedly a fire escape.

"Why are we running, those guys aren't after you are they?" I asked.

He paused before opening his mouth to speak but had nothing to say. I shook my head before jumping at the sound of another gun shot.

"Elena, we don't have a choice, come on." He pulled me forward but i ran with him willingly. We reached the fire escape and Damon pushed open the window. He jumped out, making sure the platform was stable. I followed behind him. We ran down 2 flights of stairs on the fire escape before realizing that the last ones required a small jump. Damon went first and landed on two feet. He reached his hand out for me but i hesitated. I stared at his hand for a while and then looked at his face. His tight-lipped smile reassured me that he was in desperate need for me to come with him. I heard a gun shot from above and i turned to see the men at the window of the fire escape.

"Elena!" Damon shouted, desperation was obvious in his voice.

My heart was racing and i grabbed Damon's hand, he caught me as i jumped down, we ran down the last flight of stairs and when we reached the bottom we kept going, we ran down the alleyway, still hand in hand. We reached the end of the alleyway and i turned the corner first, a man turned me around and tried to grab me but i jabbed my elbow into his stomach and twisted his arm around, holding him to the ground. Damon was shocked, his jaw dropped to the ground and my surprising level of strength and ability. I pushed the man into the gutter and grabbed Damon's hand again, we ran until we reached the front of the bar.

"Wait here, i'll get the car." He ordered.

"Damon!" I shouted after him but he had already ran across the road.

Shortly after Damon pulled up in front of me with his blue Cameo.

"Get in!" He demanded. I hesitated. Why were these men after him? What did he do?

"Elena, what are you doing? Get in the car! We don't have time to waste!" He clenched his teeth.

"Those men were after you, how do i know you're not dangerous?" I asked.

"Because i just saved your life! Now get in the car, i'll explain later but Elena, please, we have to go, and i'm not leaving without you!" He persisted. I hesitated again but gave in. I hopped in the car and Damon drove away quickly.

* * *

We arrived back at Yale at around 12am. Damon pulled up in his usual spot. He guided me upstairs to his dorm, hoping Stefan wouldn't be home. We drove the whole way home in complete silence, i was trying to get my head around what just happened. I hadn't been in a situation like that since my father was killed. I was weak then, but i fought back tonight, it's what i had been training for ever since my fathers death.

* * *

I sat on Damon's couch in silence. Damon handed me a glass of water. I stared at it for a moment before taking it out of his hands.

"I think it's time you start explaining." I looked at Damon with a stone hard look.

"Those men, they uh, i uh-" He rubbed his nose. "I owe them some money, and i don't have it to pay them back, so." He finished the sentence by rubbing his eyes.

"Isn't killing you a bit harsh?" I asked.

"Not to them." He explained.

"I'm sorry i shouldn't have presumed the worst." I apologized.

"It's alright, i would've thought i was a murderer too." He smiled, lightening the mood.

"Just like you thought i was a bad pool player, until i kicked your ass." I winked at him.

He laughed. "Speaking of those other activities i was talking about." He flirted. I smiled back at him. Damon leant forward, i sat still, waiting for him to make his move, not knowing how to react. Keys rattled in the door and both our attention was turned toward it. Stefan walked through the door, interrupting the moment.

"Stefan." I smiled.

"Hey Elena, still here?" He asked.

"We just got back actually." I replied.

"Damon." He greeted.

"Stefan." Damon replied harshly with his teeth clenched. I could feel a serious bad vibe flying through the room.

"I-I should go." I suggested, Damon's attention stayed focused directly on Stefan.

"Yeah, you should." Damon stood up slowly and then held his hand out to help me up. He guided me out the door, his eyes still fixed on Stefan, his teeth still clenched. Stefan smiled to himself when i was out of sight.

Damon closed the door behind us.

"Well this was an, eventful, night." I concluded.

"I know how to keep a girl interested." He flirted.

"Yet you still can't think of a decent pick up line for crap." I teased.

He laughed. "They still seem to work on you." He smirked, followed by a wink.

I shook my head. "If you don't do your share of our assignment, i'm going to come into your room while you sleep on rip off those nuts that you cherish so much. I know where you live now." I threatened.

"Is that supposed to motivate me to do the assignment? That sounds more like pleasure rather than a punishment." He teased.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Goodnight, Damon."

"Night Elena." He kissed me on the cheek before going inside and shutting the door behind him. I stood outside for a moment and placed my fingers on the spot that his lips came in contact with my skin. I smiled to myself.

* * *

Damon shut the door behind him before grabbing Stefan, whom had been standing on the other side of the door, and pushed him up against the wall, he pinned Stefan to the wall with his right arm putting pressure under his chin.

"Quit trying to have me killed, brother." Damon demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Stefan argued. He tried to release Damon's grip from under his chin.

"You expect me to believe that those weren't your men at the bar tonight?" Damon persisted.

"You're my family, Damon, my only family, i would never hurt you." Stefan concluded. Damon clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on Stefan for a moment before letting him go. He turned around and got in bed, without even looking at his brother. Stefan stayed leaning against the wall, catching his breath, he chuckled to himself.

* * *

The next day i strolled into class and sat in the same seat as i did the first lesson. I waited patiently for Damon to come, hoping he'd sit next to me. Professor Tanner came in and shut the door behind him, but Damon hadn't come in yet. I stared at the door for a while before paying attention to the class. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and my attention was drawn when i heard a familiar male voice apologizing for being late.

"Don't waste me time, kid." Professor Tanner said to Damon as a warning. Damon nodded slightly. He walked down the aisle and raised his eyebrows to me as if to say "He's got issues". Damon sat down next to me and it felt we were at the beginning again. He sat and stared at me smiling. I decided to join and do the same to him, but he could hold eye contact a lot better than i could.

"How do you do that?" I said finally blinking. He ignored me and just continued to smile.

"Is this going to become a regular thing?" I asked with an irritated smirk on my face.

"That's what you get for saving me a seat." Damon winked, finishing off his creepy stare.

"I didn't save you a seat, no one wanted to sit there." I argued.

"You're a beautiful single girl in a room full of horny males, 99% of this room would have wanted to sit there." He persisted.

"Well you're wrong." I concluded.

"Hey, i've been wrong before." He winked again. I laughed at his mockery.

"Wanna get lunch today?" He asked.

"Can't, as much as i would love to spend an extra hour making fun of you, i've got a lunch date with Stefan." I answered.

"Stefan?"

"Yes, you know, tall, golden-blonde hair, brother of the one and only Damon Salvatore, ring a bell?" I asked rhetorically.

He laughed at my sarcasm. "Why are you hanging out with Stefan?"

"Don't worry it's not actually a date, he's just helping me with my writing, giving me some tips." I replied.

"Right." Damon seemed touchy about the topic, about Stefan in general. "Ok fine, what about a movie, tomorrow night?" He insisted.

"And if i say no...?" I teased.

"Then you miss out on watching me cry while watching the notebook." Damon joked.

"How can i say no to that?" I rhetorically asked. Damon stared at me again for a while, but i didn't mind, because rather than trying to creep me out, he was admiring me.

* * *

The next week i spent with Damon, we watched movies, went to the park, had lunch, played video games, we even went to a few parties. 99% of the time we spent together consisted of non-stop bickering and constant insults. It was beautiful.

* * *

Elena was sitting in the courtyard reading over her textbook and writing notes when her phone started to ring.

"You just can't get enough can you?" Elena answered.

"It's your friendly personality, really reels me in." Damon replied.

"What do you want? I'm actually in the middle of doing our-" "Do you want to go out with me? Will-will you go out with me?" Damon interrupted. Elena paused, her heart started racing.

"You're asking me out?" She asked to clarify the request.

"No i'm asking this other girl out, i was just testing it on you." Damon joked.

"Oh ok then." Elena teased.

"So what do you say?" Damon questioned.

"You don't do this often do you?" Elena avoided the question.

"Just answer the question, Lena." Damon demanded.

"I um." She thought for a second and the smiled to herself at the thought of her and Damon as a couple. "As long as you promise not to take me to hell's bar again." Elena answered.

Damon laughed. "Well there is this nice strip club just down the road from there." He teased.

Elena rolled her eyes. "You'd know that place well." She mocked.

"Friday, i'll be out on the courtyard at 8." He concluded.

"Where are we going?" Elena asked.

Damon smiled to himself. "It's a surprise."

"The last time a guy said that to me he ended up taking me to the sports centre. Wasn't a very long relationship. Just a little heads up." Elena warned.

"It's ok i don't think there's any football at the strip club." Damon smirked. "See you friday."

"See you friday." Elena repeated. She hung up the phone and squeezed in her hand while biting her lip to hold back her uncontrollable grin. Damon hung up the phone and looked up to the sky and smiled to himself.


	4. Chapter 3: First date

Elena tore apart her cupboard trying to find an outfit to wear. Tonight was the big night, it was 7:50pm and Damon would be picking her up in 15 minutes for their first date. She pulled out every single item of clothing that she owned, form pajamas to underwear, it was all lying on her dorm's floor. She was walking around in her black lace underwear, throwing clothes around the room until finally she picked up a tight black dress. The door opened and Elena's attention turned toward it.

"Damon!" I threw a shoe at him and quickly pulled my dress on. "You're supposed to be waiting in the courtyard!" I pushed him out the door and shut it, but he retaliated and opened it again. Damon leant up against the doorframe.

"You were running late, and now i see why." He replied, smirking.

"It's 8:01?" I argued, looking at the clock on the wall.

"Your point?"

"Can you zip me up?" I asked, turning around and brushing my hair off my back and over my shoulder. He walked up to me and placed his right hand tenderly on my lower back at the base of the zipper. He began to pull it upward, he placed his other hand on my shoulder, close to my neck. I could feel his warm breath on my ear, my heart was racing at his touch, my breath fast-paced.

"You know, we can just skip the date part if you want." He whispered in my ear before brushing his lips against my cheek and then my lower neck.

"We could." i whispered back. I grabbed his jeans with my left hand and squeezed them gently, i took his hand that was tracing my cheek and held it there for a moment before slowly pulling it away. I turned around to meet my eyes to his and leant in slightly, my lips brushing his.

"But we're not. Nice try." I said before patting him on the back and putting my black stilettos on. I picked up my clutch and walked out the door. Damon smirked to himself before following me. I opened the passenger door on Damon's car and hopped in. He sat next to me in the drivers seat and started the car.

"You gonna tell me where we're going?" I asked.

"I told you, strip club." He winked at me.

"Ha ha." I mocked as he drove off.

* * *

We had been driving for around an hour and i was starting to worry.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" I demanded.

"We're almost there!" He replied bluntly.

* * *

We pulled up outside a small restaurant. The sign read "il Salvatore's." I was confused by the name. Was this Damon's restaurant? Was he taking me to meet his parents? Where the hell were we? Damon led me inside and to a small remote booth at the back of the restaurant. The place wasn't quiet but wasn't loud, it seemed like more of a family diner rather than somewhere you would go for a first date. I sat down on the _red_ cushiony chair in the booth and Damon sat opposite me.

"il Salvatore's?" I asked him curiously with one eyebrow raised.

He chuckled. "I was waiting for you to ask that. This used to be my parents restaurant." He explained.

"Really? It's beautiful. What happened?" I smiled and examined each and every detail of the room.

His smile faded. "They died." He replied with a catch in his throat. My smile followed his and sank till it was no more.

"I'm so sorry." I said.

"It's ok." He placed a fake smile on his face. I grabbed his hand that was sitting on the table and squeezed it while returning a smile.

"Damon! and... friend?" An elder woman in an apron exclaimed as she walked toward our table carrying 2 menus and a notepad.

Damon stood up and hugged the woman when she reached us. "Andie this is Elena." He gestured toward me. "Andie is my Aunt." Damon introduced.

I stood. "Hi it's great to meet you." I replied as i was embraced by her.

"Oh you too darl! You're the first girl Damon's brought here since-" She paused. "You must be special to him." She nudged playfully with a smile. I stared at Damon for a moment, watching his cheeks turn rosy pink out of embarrassment. "I'll let you two get back to your date." She continued before placing menu's in front of us. She leant forward and spoke to me. "If he's not a perfect gentleman let me know and i'll give him a whack on the head."

"She'll whack me herself if she really needs to, trust me." Damon teased and smirked at me.

I laughed to myself. "Don't worry i'll make sure he behaves."

Andie smiled and hummed a tune as she walked back into the kitchen.

* * *

Damon and i had been sharing stories from our past, he told me about his experiences at "Hell's Bar" and i told him about the time i was so drunk i passed out near the old Lockwood cellar. We both laughed continuously.

"Shutup I was being fed alcohol by Caroline all night, i had no clue how much i had had and then i went to find my car and next thing i know i'm waking up in the forest next to the old cellar at 3am." We laughed.

"Usually when i'm drunk i end up in someone else's bed but i guess someone else's cellar is just as kinky." He teased. I laughed and shook my head at his remark.

"And I was the only one out there i mean come on the entire party was drunk yet i was the only one that ended up out there. I guess there could've been someone else out there, i wouldn't know i was a little out of it." I replied.

"You were too busy passing out to notice." He mocked.

I rolled my eyes. "You know how you get that feeling, the feeling like, like someone's watching you?" I started. His smile started to fade but mine stayed plastered on my face. He nodded his head slightly.  
"Well i had that feeling, it was so real, i could hear the sounds of footsteps behind me, it was like i could feel someone watching me but i couldn't see anyone. I've always sworn that there was someone there." I paused. Damon's smile had disappeared completely, his mouth slightly open, he was completely silent. He looked at me with such coldness, his entire expression changed in one split second. I could see a glimpse of guilt in his eyes. "It was creepy, i ran home from there, which took a lot longer than i thought it would because i had absolutely no idea where i was going." I continued.

He stared at me for a moment longer before replying. "Well one time i thought a lion was chasing me, turned out to be a cat."

"Are you expecting me to not comment on that?" I asked, smirking.

"Even if i was it wouldn't stop you." He replied.

"Very true. If you're trying to make me feel better it's definitely working. Because at least i wasn't scared of a kitty." I mocked.

"Hey it looked like a lion! You'd be scared too." He joked.

I laughed like a little school girl who was flirting with her crush. "What are you getting?" I asked as i scanned the menu.

"A slice of you hopefully. He winked at me.

"Sometimes hope can be a bitch." I teased.

"Ouch." He pressed his hand to his heart. "And here i was thinking we were making progress." He continued smiling like an idiot.

"The moment you stop making fun of me for passing out we'll start making progress." I replied.

"Did it hurt?" He asked.

"What hurt?" I thought he was going to pull some cheesy pick up line.

"When you passed out in the forest." He teased. I reached across the table and pushed his arm playfully.

* * *

Damon paid the check and we said goodbye to Andie before heading for his car. I opened the passenger door but Damon stopped me.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Come with me." He replied and held his hand out for me to hold. I hesitated.

"Where are we going this time?" I asked with a smile.

"It's a secret." He placed his finger on his lips and smirked before reaching for my hand again. I grabbed his hand and followed him. We headed into the bushes, ducked under trees and jumped over logs.

"Are you taking me to the forest to make fun of me more because that's just cruel." I said confused to where we were.

"Almost there. I mean you should know the forest well by now." He teased.

"I brought that upon myself." I replied. We kept walking until we came to a sparkling lake. It was shining bright blue in the moonlight, the reflection of the stars in each ripple of movement, giving the water mystical properties.

"Where are we?" I asked staring at the lake in amazement.

"Stefan and i used to come here when we were little to swim. We would sneak out most nights after dinner and just muck around in the water. Once we were caught and were grounded for a month." He smiled to himself.

"It's amazing." I replied. He turned and gazed at me.

"Yeah, it is." He replied, still staring at me. He looked me up and down and smiled to himself. I turned to meet his eyes. We stared at each other for a moment in silence before he broke it.

"We should go." He turned around to leave but i didn't move. I took off my heels and put them next to a tree, along with my clutch. I moved my hair out of the way and unzipped my dress. Damon turned back and watched me with confusion.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Going for a swim." I smirked, pulled my dress over my head and revealed my black lace underwear to the gorgeous man watching me. "You coming?" I continued. He smiled and shook his head slightly before taking off his shoes, then shirt, followed by his pants.

"Nice underwear." I teased. I stared at his bare chest gleaming in the moonlight, he was just as beautiful as the lake, probably even more so. His body was so defined, so muscular, each muscle was clearly outlined, each muscle i just wanted to run my fingers over and kiss again and again and again.

"Enjoying the view?" He mocked as he noticed me staring.

"Not as much as you are i bet." I argued. I ran into the shallow water before diving into the deeper area. Damon quickly followed me. I rose from the bottom of the lake and looked around for Damon but there was no sight.

"Damon?" I called out. I squealed loudly as Damon's appeared below me and started tickling me.

"Stop it, stop, Damon!" I laughed and screamed at the same time. I him with water and tried to swim away but he followed.

"Damon stop it!" I laughed my ass off. He swept me up and cradled me in his arms. Our foreheads touched and we were still, gazing into each others eyes. I placed my left hand on his face and right hand on his cheek, with that hand i traced from his jaw down his chest. Water droplets were dripping off his chin and making his chest shine even brighter than before. He was the definition of perfection, he was a God. We stared into each others eyes for another moment, he slowly put me down and i stood before him, our eyes still locked and suddenly he pressed his lips against mine. Passion wasn't something we lacked, it was bursting out of us like fireworks in the sky. It was as if everything else had disappeared, there was no more forest, there was no Caroline, no Stefan, no college, no burden of a murdered father, there was nothing else in this world except Damon, the lake and i. He kissed me harder and pressed his hand to my back, pulling me closer. I placed one hand on his cheek and the other i wrapped around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. His hands found their way around my back, starting at my bra, tracing the laced edges, one found it's home there, the other made it's way down to my lower back, pushing me crotch towards him, pressing our bodies together. It was perfect, just like him, kissing Damon was the most amazing feeling i had ever felt. There was nothing but the sound of fireworks and passion surrounding us, the world had frozen time for the historic moment of 'Damon and Elena's first kiss'. The kiss came to and end and our lips slowly pulled away, he still held me close in his arms and our eye contact started again. Our attention was suddenly drawn to a loud ringing sound coming from my clutch.

"I um- i should get that, it might be Caroline." I said as i hesitated before pulled away and heading out of the water. I opened my clutch and got out my phone.

"Hello?" I answered. "Woah- Care slow down, what happened?"

"I was out with the girls and i came back to the dorm but the door was slightly open, which i thought was weird because i know i locked it, Elena i swear to god i locked it." She took a deep breath. "When i opened the door, i couldn't believe it, there was, it was-" "What Caroline?" I interrupted.

"Someone broke in! And they went through all our stuff! The dorm is a mess, things are missing, things are broken, it's a mess, Elena!" She shouted into the phone in a panic.

"Someone broke in?" I asked and turned toward Damon with a worried look on my face. He had been listening to the conversation, his jaw flexed and he appeared to be worried.

"We'll be there as soon as we can." I assured her while picking up my stuff and slipping my dress back on. Damon ran out of the water and put on his clothes as well.

* * *

We arrived back at the dorm and ran inside quickly to make sure Caroline was ok.

"Caroline?!" Elena shouted out.

"Yeah i'm here." She appeared from the corner and wrapped her arms around Elena.

"Are you ok?" Damon asked.

"I'm fine but look at this place, it's a mess." She complained.

"I'm gonna look around, see if they left anything here." Damon whispered to Elena.

"Sherlock Salvatore." She joked. Damon laughed slightly and then walked to the front door. He opened it and assessed the lock, there was chipped marks around it and it had been broken. He made his way over to the kitchen, he looked through the cabinets and then examined bench tops. He stopped in his tracks as he noticed a black piece off cotton folded on the kitchen bench, it appeared to have been ripped off the sleeve of a t-shirt. He unfolded it slowly and his jaw dropped open at the sight. There was a red circle with an A inside sewn on it. Damon stared at it for a moment.

"Did you find something?" Elena asked. Damon quickly turned and put the symbol in the back pocket of his jeans.

"No, sorry." He replied tucking it in further.

"It's ok." Elena replied with a smile.

"Hey i think i'm going to head off. You guys alright here?" He asked.

"Yeah we'll be fine." Elena answered. Damon gave her a kiss on the cheek before walking out the door.

* * *

The conflicting friday night was over, Saturday morning, much more like it, i said to myself. Friday night had been romantic and tragic at the same time. Damon and i shared our first kiss but Caroline and i's dorm had been broken into. I picked up my phone and hesitated before calling Damon.

"Miss me already?" He answered sarcastically.

I chuckled. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to come shopping with me today." I asked.

"Are you asking me out to go...shopping?" He replied.

"Well i know how much you love girly things." I teased.

Damon smiled to himself. "I think you mean girls and things."

"Are you in or out? Because i can always get another guy to come help me try on and take of clothing all day." I joked.

"Pick me up in 30, there's something i have to do first." Damon said as his eyes watched his brother walk through the door.

"30 minutes it is, if you're late i'll replace you." I warned before hanging up the phone.

Damon waited a moment before pouncing at his brother.

"Leave her alone Stefan!" He ordered as he slammed his brother to the floor.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied pushing Damon back.

"You went through her dorm, don't play dumb with me. Whatever you want to get back at me for, leave her out of it." Damon ordered.

"_I_ didn't do anything." Stefan argued before pushing past his brother. Damon shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair before checking the time on his watch.

"If you go near her again, i won't hesitate to kill you." Damon warned Stefan. He ran out the door and down the stairs to a patient Elena waiting outside in the courtyard.

"Hurry up Grandpa." She teased.

"Sorry." Damon replied and started to limp, attempting to mock Elena. "Trying my hardest."

* * *

"How about this one?" Elena asked coming out of the dressing room and doing a twirl in front of Damon.

"I love it." He replied.

"You've said that about every one that i've tried on." Elena argued.

"I'm not picky." He smirked. Elena noticed a dress that hadn't been tried on yet lying on the floor, she picked it up and went back into the change room for a moment before coming out again with it on. It was a beautiful lace light blue dress that sat above the knee. Damon examined Elena in the dress and adored the way it fit her figure. He stared in silence taking mental photographs of how beautiful she looked in this moment as if she were to fade away.

"Can you do this up?" Elena asked and turned with her back facing him.

"Of course." Damon snapped back to reality and walked over to Elena. He brushed her hear over her shoulder and buttoned up the dress slowly. There was a section of it that was backless, revealing her perfect back. She turned around again and their eyes met. They stood still for a moment, Damon still admiring her in that dress.

"So." Elena began. "What do you think?" She asked giving him another twirl, followed by a subtle hair flick.

"I uh-" Damon was speechless, he tried to gather his thoughts into a single compliment that would sum up how he felt about the dress.

"So you actually like this one?" Elena asked rhetorically.

"To say the least." Damon replied. He continued to gaze at her.

"Oh my god." She said. She walked toward Damon and stood close to him.

"What is it?" Damon asked curiously.

"You're definitely falling in love with me right now." Elena teased.

* * *

**_Authors note:_**** EEP ok i know this chapter took a while to upload, but i had the worst writers block, instead of writing i vidded and made some edits and even learnt how to gif THIS WAS ALL SO I DIDN'T HAVE TO WRITE {louisa's logic=non existant} anyway thank you for being so patient, i'm currently making a trailer for this fic and you can find that on my youtube channel or my tumblr my youtube username is: vampirediaries121000 and my tumblr is: .com **

**Also i suck at using this site, it is like the most complex thing ever, so if you need to contact me, or want to ask any questions ask me on tumblr because i actually know how to use that, there's so far 14 chapters planned for this fic but there will be more, i've written the outline for them and things are starting to get really interesting and starting to tie together and i'm really excited yay life, ok thank you guys so much, if you could leave a review, or share the fic around that would be appreciated so much i love you! xx**


	5. Chapter 4: Welcome to Georgia

I unzipped my suitcase and smiled to myself as i stared at it's contents. Each item inside held memories from my past weekend with Damon, memories that i wanted to cling to like a little girl with her teddy bear.

I lifted my navy blue suitcase into the boot of Damon's car. He stood next to me doing the same with his.

"Did you pack enough?" Damon mocked.

"Sorry for actually packing clean underwear." I teased. Damon laughed and suddenly kissed me, one finger tilting my chin towards his. I would never get used to locking lips with, or even toughing, such a beautiful man. We had been dating for a month now, ever since the night my dorm was broken into Damon had glued himself to my side as if he was a guard dog. I would spend most nights in his dorm, he wanted to know that i was safe, all the time. I stayed there practically every night except for the ones when stefan was home, which wasn't often.

"You ready?" Damon asked as he pulled away, ending our kiss.

"Of course." I replied. Damon decided that we needed a weekend away from campus so he's kidnapping me and taking me out of town this weekend, although i don't mind, i really don't. I clicked my seatbelt in and turned the radio on.

"So where are we going?" I asked curiously.

Damon turned to me and smirked. "Georgia."

We had been driving for 16 long hours when we finally came to a sign that said "Welcome to Georgia". We stopped along the way at various diners having breaks and resting. Usually i'm not one for long drives but if it meant spending more time with Damon i was all for it. Damon drove through the gates of a quiet country comfort. We pulled up and retrieved our room key from the front desk. I followed Damon down the hall toward our room.

"Alright here we are." He stopped in front of a large garbage bin and pretended to lift me up and put me in it.

"Funny." I giggled and pushed him playfully. We kept walking until we reached room number 23. I followed Damon inside the dusty quaint motel room. It wasn't the fanciest of motels but it would do the night. Damon put our bags down and opened the curtains, our view was over looking the bar and main road, i stared out the window examining the streets.

As I walked hand in hand with Damon down the main road, i noticed the differences between Mystic Falls where i grew up and Georgia. They were both small towns, although they had some similarities there was also some differences. The people, for one, were a lot more friendly, the buildings were older, they told historical stories, and the thing that stood out most was the dark alley ways, i mean don't get me wrong, Mystic Falls had it's fair share of dark creepy streets but there was something about these alley ways that screamed 'run while you can'. Damon and i burst into the local bar, making quite an entrance.

"Oh my God." I heard a woman scream from behind the bar. I turned to Damon unsure of what was going on.

"Damon Salvatore? Is it really you?" The woman slid across the bar and ran down the room. I thought she was going to slap him hard in the face, kick him where it hurts, abuse him in some way, but instead she flung her arms around his neck and embraced him in a heart-felt hug. I smiled at the sight of what appeared to be an old friend of Damon's but my smile slightly faded at the thought that she could be an old girlfriend of Damon's.

"Lacey Parker." He finally said, pulling away from the hug, grinning.

"My my, what has it been, 3 years? Look at you! All grown up!" She exclaimed.

He smiled back at her. "You look great." He looked her up and down, she was thin, but defined, her boobs stood out more than anything, her hair was a golden-blonde colour and very long, luscious, it was like a golden sea of waves. Her blue eyes sparkled under the bar lights and her lip gloss did the same, she was beautiful.

"And you must be Damon's..." Lacey started, finally including me in the conversation, rather than being the third wheel for another 5 minutes.

"Girlfriend, this is my girlfriend." Damon interrupted, he placed his hand on my lower back.

I smiled hearing Damon call me his girlfriend, i knew i was but i had never heard him say it before, i loved it. "I'm Elena." I introduced and she hugged me just as she had Damon.

"Elena, what a pretty name! I'm Lacey, Damon and i are old friends" She continued.

"I stayed here for a while after my parents died, Lacey and i hung out back then, she was dating Stefan for a while." Damon explained.

"You dated Stefan?" I asked her.

"Yeah.. those were my dark days, i was going through a rough time, as was he, how is he by the way?" She asked.

"I wouldn't know, i don't talk to him much, Elena does though." Damon answered.

"Um, i guess, sometimes, i don't know him that well but he seems ok." I replied. I knew there was serious beef between Damon and Stefan but the fact that they share a dorm room and don't talk just didn't make sense to me.

Lacey smiled at me. "Well come have some drinks! They're on me!" She offered. We followed her to the bar and she resumed her spot bar-tending. She came back several minutes later with shots.

"Oh thank God, alcohol, that drive was painful." I said to Lacey before sculling one of the shots in front of us as she cleaned glasses across from me.

She laughed. "So why'd you come to town, business or pleasure?" Lacey asked Damon.

He paused for a moment. They exchanged glances, while i sat there and had no idea what was going on. "Pleasure." He finally answered.

"Right right, you know what they say, to really woo your girlfriend, drive her to Georgia, the world wide known shit-hole." Lacey replied with a smirk.

"Oh trust me, he woo'd me as soon as he showed me his comic book collection." I said sarcastically.

"You didn't touch them did you?" Lacey mocked.

"Do you think i'd be here if i did?" I teased.

"Hey they're collectables, my dad gave them to me when i was little, don't hate." Damon defended

"I'm impressed, you're the first girl i've met of his with a sense of humor, she's a keeper Damon." Lacey seemed to approve of me which meant less awkwardness when we spent time with her this weekend.

"Trust me, i know." Damon turned to look at me, smiling.

A few hours later Damon and I had had more than a few shots and we were chasing each other around the bar, playing pool, and competing in various drinking games.

I shot the last ball on the pool table, winning the game and flung my amrs in the air screaming in victory.

"Ouuucchhh that's gotta hurt!" I shouted at Damon, blowing on my fingertips as if they were on fire.

"You cheated!" He argued.

"How on earth did i cheat" I asked.

"You were standing there, all pretty like, and i got distracted." He defended. We both laughed.

"You can't use that excuse forever, you lost, take it like a man." I teased.

"You know what?" He asked rhetorically before coming up to me and throwing me over his shoulder. "We're going back to the motel, you're look hot in those clothes, we should cool you down." He flirted as he carried me out the door. I was laughing uncontrollably.

Damon slammed me down on the motel bed, his body collapsing on top of mine, he kissed me hard and removed my clothes, i did the same to him, ripping his shirt off, exposing his perfect, masculine body. Damon's hands traced the curves of my body, he occasionally dug his nails into my skin for support, our bodies moved together in rhythm, grinding together as if we were one, I ran her fingers through his hair and tugged on it intimately, I pressed my lips to his bare chest forming a path down his muscles, I threw my head back embracing the feeling as Damon did the same to me, reaching the line of my panties, he traced them with his tongue before slowly removing them. He kissed my inner thigh up to my opening and his tongue licked my folds make me grab onto the sheets for support. I could feel my body ache, my need for him grew. Damon teased me some more, tracing my folds before he pulled away, smirking.

"Now that was cruel." I snapped, and kissed him before taking off his tight underwear that was clinging to his boner. My mind went elsewhere as the alcohol took effect and Damon slowly pushed inside me. She breathed heavily and grabbed his hair with one hand and the sheets with another, trying to support herself.

The next morning I woke up in Damon's arms, it was the best way to start the day, being that close to the man of your dreams. We stayed there for a while, soaking in the moment, still overwhelmed by the night before. Damon kissed me on the forehead before getting up and walking toward the window. I stared at his perfect round ass before he put on his underwear. Damon turned around and smirked at me before jumping on top of me and kissing me.

"Morning." He said after pulling away.

"I wouldn't say morning, i mean it's past noon we've been in here all-" I began but was interrupted with Damon pressing his lips to mine once again.

"We should probably get dressed, i have a surprise for you." He smiled.

"That's what you said last night." I teased.

"This one's not as _appealing_" He winked. "But you get more gossip from my younger years." He continued.

"I imagine you back then as a chubby boy with headgear and pimples." I mocked.

"Close." He kissed me again before getting dressed.

Damon and I arrived at an old farm about half an hour out of Georgia. He told me it was an old friends place. We walked down the long dirt path to the front door of the house. Damon nocked on the door and an elder man, he looked around 34, with a scruffy beard, opened the door.

"Damon Salvatore." The man said smiling at us, he appeared to be in shock at the sight of Damon being there.

"Will, been a long time." Damon smirked. "This is my girlfriend Elena." He motioned toward me.

"Elena, darlin' you are fine! Where you been hidin' this one aye Damon." All of a sudden Will grabbed my hand and kissed it. You could easily tell he was from the country, the way his spoke, his accent and his look was a dead give away. Damon gave him a cold look of jealousy.

"Hi nice to meet you." I greeted him.

"Come in, come in! Lexi should be out the back feedin' the horses, sheerin' the sheep, watching the grass turn brown, somethin'." Will said, leading us inside. Damon put his hand on my back and guided me in.

"Lexi! Lexi!" Will shouted outside. "We've got guests, get your ass in here!"

I saw a younger looking woman run up the steps toward the house, she was beautiful, dark blonde hair, big brown eyes, perfect figure.

"I'm coming! Sorry i was just-" She stopped and flicked her hair before noticing Damon standing there. "My my. Now who's this young handsome man!" She squealed before wrapping her arms around him. "What has it been, 3 years?" She asked in excitement.

"Good to see you Lexi." Damon replied as he pulled away.

"And who's this pretty young thing." She smiled and walked over to me.

"I'm Elena, Damon's girlfriend." I answered for myself. I wanted to include myself in the conversation more, these people knew Damon from a young age, and i wanted to know all his dirty secrets.

We all sat around the table telling embarrassing stories from our childhood.

"Y'know Damon was breastfed until he was 6." Will teased.

"Explains a lot." I mocked. Damon chocked on his water to stop himself from spitting it out.

"He always had a way with women." Lexi continued. Damon pushed me playfully for my smart ass remark.

"Hey at least i didn't eat worms like you." Damon defended.

"They're nutritious ok." Will fought back, we all laughed.

"When i was little i'd go around flashing to people driving cars." I interrupted.

"That's my girl." Damon smirked and kissed me on the cheek. "Hey Lexi, why don't you show Elena the barn." Damon suggested.

"I'd love to." She replied and i followed her down the steps toward the big large red barn.

"Damon's really fond of you, y'know." Lexi started as we pat the large white beautiful horse at the back of the barn. "You're the first girl he's brought here, or even told anything about his past to, he usually keeps to himself." She continued.

"Well i feel honored, he never mentioned his life here, so it was kind of a surprise." I replied.

"He doesn't like to talk about his past, he got mixed up in some stuff that he's not proud of." She explained.

"What kind of stuff?" I asked curiously.

"You know, boy stuff, doesn't matter, i can tell he really likes you." She changed the topic, avoiding the question. What was Damon hiding from me and why was he so ashamed?

Damon and Will walked through the house reminiscing on the old days, they came to the end of the hallway and Damon picked up a picture and stared at it.

"I need your help." Damon continued to stare at the photo.

"What with brother?" Will asked.

"They're back." He started. Will's facial expression and he had a serious look in his eye. "They've been coming after me, and Elena." He continued.

"I thought it ended after that night." Will replied.

"So did i, that's why i need your help. A few years ago, after it ended, you found out the home base." Damon pointed to one of the men in the photo. "I've seen him around lately, who is he?"

"He's connected." Will explained.

"Where's the home base Will? I'll protect you but i need your help with this." Damon asked, putting the photo down.

"Fine, look it's a place near hells bar, there's wood covering the windows, it's very exclusive and very dangerous." Will answered hesitantly.

"I'll take care of it." Damon smiled slightly. The girls came swinging around the corner.

"There you guys are." Elena exclaimed and kissed Damon softly.

"Alright, let's get some drinks." Lexi announced.

That night when i was in the shower, i could feel the warm water run down my back but all i could think about was what Lexi meant by Damon having a past. I knew he was a bad boy, i mean he took me to a place called "hells bar", but i never really thought about how bad he was. It didn't matter though, the past was the past, and i'm one to forgive and forget. I wrapped a towel around myself and walked out into our room. Damon's eyes studied my half naked body, i rolled my eyes at him.

"At least i know you're not gay." I teased.

"Last night pretty much proves that." Damon grabbed my waist and pulled me close, i cupped his face and our foreheads touched. Damon moved a hair of my face and stroked my hair.

"I love you, Elena." His eyes sparkled in the poor light, i stared directly into them, i saw myself in the reflection, but in that image i imagined me and Damon and what we looked like as a couple, i saw all our moments we had spent together from another persons point of view, as i watched our relationship i smiled and kissed him.

"I love you too." I replied before kissing him again.

* * *

_**Authors note: I know this chapter is crap, i didn't want to write it to be honest, it's a fill in chapter, the smut scene is terrible, smut is not my forte, and i'm sorry it took so long! I've been really busy and unmotivated to write this chapter, i'll try get another posted tomorrow to make up for it! Thanks guys! xx**_


	6. Chapter 5: thread of the thing

After my perfect weekend with Damon a week of classes seemed like torture, but there was one thing helping me get through the week, the big date Damon and i had planned for tonight. It was friday night and we were planning on going to the park for dinner, cheesy, i know, but romantic, and then we were going to head off to the lake again for more swimming *cough naked cough*. I was so excited that i had been trying to choose what to wear all week, i ended up going to the shops and buying a new dress. One that wasn't to expensive due to the expectation of having it ripped off me. I watched the little hand move on the clock above the classroom door anxious for class to end. As the big hand reached the 12 and my professor dismissed our class, my stomach lifted with joy. Walking out of the building and walking back to my dorm i searched through my bag for my phone and then dialed in Damon's number.

"Hey babe." He answered.

"Just a warning i could eat a horse right about now so bring a lot of food tonight." My stomach growled at me.

"Tonight? Oh right, um, about that-" "Tell me you're not canceling on me." I interrupted.

"It's just i have something really urgent to take care of." He defended.

"Then i'm coming." I replied changing route to Damon's dorm instead of my own.

"No Elena this is serious business, you're not coming, it's dangerous." He said with a cold tone.

"Danger is my middle name. Actually it's Miranda but you get the point. What are you doing that's so dangerous?" I asked curiously.

"Not over the phone." Damon didn't have the usual sarcastic smart ass tone in his voice, it was cold, sharp, emotionless.

"Fine then turn around." I replied and folded my arms and raising my eyebrows.

Damon turned around to face me.

"Hey how you doing?" I asked sarcastically on the phone still before we both hung up.

"What are you doing here?" He walked toward me.

"Just visiting a friend." I said sarcastically.

"As long as his name doesn't start with a St and end with an efan go right ahead." Damon teased.

"Easy boy, hold back the jealousy." I continued to mock. "Now spill. Where are you going?"

Damon sighed. "You are so stubborn." He thought for a moment. "Remember when we were chased at hell's bar? Well those guys, i found out where they are, and i'm planning on getting them off my back." He explained.

"What are you going to pay them back or?" I asked. Damon stared at me silently, giving me an alternative answer. "Right. Well, i'm coming and you can't stop me." I continued before jumping in his car.

"You're sexy when you're demanding. But you can't come." He stood and folded his arms, staring at me in the passenger seat.

"I'm coming." I argued stubbornly.

"Alright, Elena, you can, you can drive the get away car." He teased.

"Can you not joke around for just 2 seconds." I demanded.

"I can't protect you, Elena." He snapped.

I paused, surprised at his answer. "Then i'll protect myself."

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed loudly. "Fine, ok but you have to do what i say and when, do you hear me?"

"Yes sir." I replied, and with that Damon got in the car.

Damon drove a few buildings past "Hell's bar" and parked out the front of a tall run down building that looked as if it was abandoned, although it had a neon light out the front that suggested otherwise. I followed Damon around the corner and down an alley way that lead to the back entrance.

"What kind of gambling did you use to do exactly?" I asked Damon as he grabbed a crow bar that was lying on the ground next to the garbage bin and started smashing the lock on the steel door.

"Not the kind you would know of." He replied, the lock snapped.

"You're definitely going to win boyfriend of the year award, taking your girlfriend to a brothel, i'm swooning, really." I teased.

"It's not a brothel ok, they just keep women here for pleasure and then only the men a part of this organisation that runs this place can enjoy these women." Damon explained poorly.

"So it's a brothel." I smirked.

"No it's- never mind." He gave up and opened the door carefully. "Now stay close ok, cause this is a brothel." He mocked. I rolled my eyes at him. Walking through the doorway i immediately noticed 2 things about this place, 1. it's smell, it smelt of liquor, smoke and blood, 2. it's appearance, stains on the walls, clouds of smoke in the air, empty bottles of alcohol, women's underwear lying around. I cringed at the sight. Damon knew where he was going, he had clearly been here a few times, i wonder why he was gambling at a brothel, or was he here because he was 'a part of this organisation'? No, Damon would never do that, he may be a bad boy but he's not that bad. We walked through the halls and reached a large staircase. There was about 6 levels and according to Damon we'd have to climb to the top of them. We reached the first level and Damon walked in front, i stopped in my tracks for a moment to study a certain stain on the wall, it was red, although it wasn't blood, and a familiar shape. Suddenly, i felt the warm breath of a dirty man on the back of my neck. I raised my elbow and jabbed it into his face, watching him fall to the ground holding onto his bruised nose i smiled to myself.

"You should probably ice that." I said smirking.

"Elena, stay close!" I heard Damon shout out from above, i ran after him, following his voice. We finally reached the top level and the room that Damon had desired to visit, he told me to wait outside the door as it could get "messy" and he didn't want to corrupt my innocence. I laughed in his face but agreed to wait outside the door since i promised to do what he said.

"I'll be right inside ok, if you need me, i'm right here." He says before walking inside the room and shutting the door.

"Can i help you?" A man sitting at a desk at the back of the room asked Damon.

"I believe you can." Damon replied walking closer to him.

"This facility is for members only." He explained.

"Oh i know, i know all about you and your little organisation, i know what you do, i know why you do it, i know who your members are, i know where your home bases are, i know how you cover up your crimes, i know that you hate that i know that, and i know that right now you're deciding wether to call on the others in here and have me "removed" or to do it yourself, but here's the problem with both of those plans, i can take you and all your men down single handedly." Damon threatened.

"What do you want?" The man asked.

"I want you to tell me who's leading the organisation right now, and why they're trying to get me killed!" Damon yelled at him, fists clenched.

"I don't even know who you are." The man defended.

"You must be new. It doesn't matter who i am, i'm waiting, for a name, who is the leader?!" He demanded.

"I don't know! We don't get told that information anymore! Since it got out, they don't tell us, i don't know." The man clenched his teeth with anger.

I leant against the door staring at the walls, i could see another door ahead of me that was left slightly open. Damon told me to stay where i was, but my curiosity was getting the best of me, i walked towards the door and peered inside. There were 2 women lying still on a bed with blood on their bodies, and another sitting on top of a man in the corner. He kissed her cheek and then her neck and then looked directly at me.

"Hey! Hey who are you!" He shouted at me. I turned to run to Damon but the man grabbed my arm and called out "Intruder! Looks like we've got a sweet new addition to our collection." He breathed down my neck. I quickly stomped on his foot and turned around and slammed my knee into his crotch and he fell to the ground, but when i turned around there was around 10 other men running up the stairs toward me. I quickly ran into the room Damon was in, Damon had a scruffy looking man pinned against the wall by his neck.

"Damon!" I shouted. He threw the man in the corner and ran to me.

"What's wrong"? At that moment the men burst into the room. Damon immediately stood in front of me, shielding me.

"Look what we have here, if it isn't the traitor." One rather large man addressed toward Damon. The men surrounded us, one of them punched Damon in the face while another grabbed my arm. Two of them held Damon by his arms, he struggled, trying to pull free.

"Let go of her!" He demanded.

"Oh but she's so pretty." The one holding my arm said and smelt my neck, i cringed.

"I swear to god touch her again-" Damon begun. "You mean like this?" The man interrupted as he placed his other hand on my waist.

"I'm going to kill you!" Damon yelled at him, pulling against the men, they were holding him back even harder than before.

"Ok, but first, how about i kill your pretty little girlfriend right in front of you, maybe i'll even let her pleasure me a little bit first." He moved his head to press his lips to my neck but i stomped on his foot, turned around, punched him in gut, followed by the face, pushed him to the ground, and snapped his neck. Breathing heavily, i turned around to see the others stare at me for a moment before Damon, who was smirking at my surprising skill, follow to do the same to the two men holding onto him, the rest ran toward me. The first swung his fist at me but i swerved and ducked under it and flipped him onto his back, on the ground i kicked his chin, then turned around quickly, jamming my elbow into the next mans face, turning him around and breaking his spine, i watched Damon slam his fist into a mans face, but i quickly ducked at another man charging toward me, i lifted my leg and slammed my high heel boot into his stomach, causing him to cough up a few chunks of blood on the ground. Damon snapped the neck of the last man and turned to face me, smiling.

"I've never been so turned on in my life." He said to me before grabbing my hand and running down the stairs, dragging me with him. At the bottom of the staircase there were two more men waiting to take care of us, Damon's fist met one of their chins and then his cheek, followed by his stomach and his face again. I quickly jumped over the staircase railing, swinging around the pole at the end of it, and driving my heel into the other mans back, then kicking him in the stomach a few times. We ran out the front door this time and hopped into Damon's car quickly.

After a long, quiet, drive Damon brought me a cup of hot chocolate as i sat on his couch, covered in blankets.

"Well that was fun." I broke the silence.

"Are you ok?" He asked, he stroked my cheek where there was a tiny cut.

"I'm fine, trust me." I replied, taking a sip of my hot chocolate.

"Alright, then why don't you tell me where the hell all that came from today, i never knew you could fight." He made hand movements, mimicking my earlier actions.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me." I paused, Damon raised his eyebrows with curiosity. "When i was 15, my father was murdered in front of me, well technically, someone saved me, but i heard the gun shot, and i never saw my father again.  
Damon away from me, and then back again, his eyes locked with mine.  
"That night, there was nothing i could do, i couldn't protect my brother, or my father or myself, and that feeling, that feeling of helplessness, that feeling of being so weak-" I stopped and stared at Damon, his expression wasn't sympathetic, nor happy, nor sad, it was just plain, he stared at me with cold guilty eyes, i could tell he could relate. "I swore to myself after that night, that i would never let myself be so helpless again, so from that moment on i started training myself, i even took up karate, martial arts, i built strength, did everything i could to become strong, to distract myself from that night."

"I'm sorry, about your father." Damon apologized.

I shook my head. "No, don't apologize, it's not your fault, you didn't kill him, but the men who did, they'll get what's coming to them."

Damon didn't reply but instead took my empty mug into the kitchen.

"Babe can you get my phone from the back pocket of my jeans." He pointed toward his bed, there was three pairs of denim jeans scrunched up on his bed, such a boy. I picked up one of them and put my hand in the back pockets, no phone, picked up the next and did the same and again no phone, but there was something in one of the pockets, i felt a loose piece of fabric, and i pulled it out, it was black on one side, i turned it around, gasped loudly and covered my mouth to stop myself from screaming. There in front of me, in my hands, was a piece of black fabric, with the red symbol that was drawn on the men who killed my father, sewn into it. I stared at it, my hand still covering my mouth, tears starting to fill my eyes, why did Damon have their symbol, why was he carrying it around with him?! And then i remembered today at the brothel, the red mark i saw on the wall, the one i recognized, it was this, it was the symbol. I shook my head and swallowed, my hands were shaking, my eyes had tears forming in them, and my mind had 1 million theories about why Damon had this, and what he knew about them, the men who killed my father.

"Did you find it?" Damon asked. I jumped, suddenly trembling with fear. The only time i had felt like this, the only time i had been as terrified as i was right now, was the night my father was killed, but unlike then, i'm strong now, i can handle this. I put the piece of fabric in my front pocket and grabbed the other pair of jeans, taking Damon's phone out.

"Yeah, here it is." I smiled, handing it to him.

"I um, i think i'm going to head back to my dorm." I said, still smiling.

"Aww don't go." He replied, he came up to me and put his hands on my waist. Having him touch me, close to me, didn't feel like it used to, i felt disgusted.

"Yeah i just remembered Caroline told me she wanted me to come home tonight, sorry, i'll call you tomorrow ok?" I said quickly before grabbing my bag and heading out the door. I shut it behind me and leant on it, catching my breath. I closed my eyes and whispered to myself. "Stop crying, stop crying, why are you crying, he's just a stupid boy, he knows about your fathers death, he's just a stupid boy, stop crying, he's a stupid boy, god dammit Elena stop-" I stumbled on my words, tears rolling down my face, i was choking on them, sobbing. "Crying. Stop, please." I continued to sob, still quiet enough for Damon to not hear me. I began to walk away slowly, trying to watch carefully where i was going, i felt a cold, wet, tear roll down my face, and kicked the wall in frustration. "Stupid!" I kicked it again. "Lying!" And again. "Boy!" This time i hit it with my two hands. I rest my head on the wall, sobbing loudly this time, feeling the anger, the pain, the hurt, take over my body, feeling the betrayal and all the lies catch up to me. It was like my heart was being ripped out of my chest, and it felt like hell.

* * *

**Authors note:**

**Ok i think this chapter might be a little confusing, from here on things are going to get really action packed, we will learn more about Damon and Stefan and what they've been fighting about, and things get really intense, get ready for an emotional rollercoaster, thanks again for reading and commenting, much love xoxo**


	7. Chapter 6: Anarchy

**Authors note: It was brought to my attention that Elena seemed very OOC (out of character) last chapter, seeing as though she didn't show remorse for the people she killed, i tried to explain that more in this chapter, but i also want to point out that this is an AU story, so the characters aren't exactly the same. Also if you have anymore questions, or comments, or suggestions, ask my on my tumblr (dobrevhs is my url) because i don't know how to use this site or reply or anything, so if you ask me there i'll be able to answer straight away! Thanks guys, happy reading.**

* * *

It was pitch black and there was a cold breeze coming from my bedroom window, a shiver rolled down my spine when the wind brushed my skin. I laid still in my bed, sound asleep, i was enjoying my dream, it was simple and it was happy, i had had a long day, down at the lake with dad and Jeremy. Dad had fallen asleep on the couch as soon as we got home and Jeremy took that as an opportunity to stay up as late as he could. When i finally got him to fall asleep, i myself passed out on my own bed. Suddenly my perfect dream was interrupted by a loud thump coming from downstairs. I sat up directly in my bed and walked cautiously downstairs.

"Dad?" I called out.

"Dad...?" I repeated but she lowered her voice this time.

"Where's dad?" I turned around to find Jeremy standing behind me.

"Wha-why are you still awake?" I asked him.

"I heard a loud noise." He replied. "Where's dad?" He repeated.

"I don't know. Stay close." I answered, holding his hand and walking slowly down the rest of the staircase and around the corner to the living room. "I know this feeling, i've been here before." I told myself in my mind. There was a man sitting on the couch facing the tv, although it was turned off.

I sighed with relief. "Dad?" I asked. I walked closer to the man and put my hand on his shoulder, he turned his head to face me and i screamed, it wasn't my father, but it wasn't a stranger, Damon looked at me with no emotion.

"Jeremy, run!" I yelled. I turned to run but Damon was standing behind me and Jeremy was gone. I saw the blue in his eyes turn to red, but he continued to have no expression on his face, he had a black hoodie on, covering his head, only showing his face, the jumper had the red symbol on the front.

"No!" I screamed at him and turned toward the door to leave but there he was again standing in front of me, i backed up and kept walking back until my back hit the wall. Damon was walking toward me, there wasn't just one of him, they were coming from all different directions, i breathed heavily, my heart racing faster than ever. As one of the Damon's reached me he lifted a gun and pointed it at me, i covered my head, trying to shield myself, and screamed when i heard the gun shot.

I woke up screaming, i had sweat dripping down my forehead, and tears rolling down my face. I was shaking, my lip trembling, i pressed my hand to my chest, feeling my heart rate, it was beating even faster than in my dream, i took deep breaths and ran my fingers through my hair. I started to sob, trembling with fear, i buried my head in my hands. After finding the symbol in Damon's pocket last night, i couldn't sleep, i couldn't eat, i couldn't think straight, all i could think of is what Damon had to do with my fathers death, and what he's been hiding from me, and i knew the first place to look to find out answers.

* * *

After lying awake for hours, i got up and got dressed, grabbed my bag, and headed to the last place Damon and i had visited. The brothel. Damon had been calling me all morning, i didn't answer a single of his calls, i wouldn't know what to say, i couldn't confront him without knowing more and i couldn't pretend to be ok. I parked the same place Damon had parked yesterday, and retraced our steps to the back door, although they had not replaced the locks. I stopped in front of the door trying to bring myself to go inside, last time i was here i killed 10 people, bad people, but they were still people, i didn't think about it at first, mainly because i was protecting the man i loved, and i guess i had trained myself for this situation, but i still felt remorse, and i prepared myself to have to feel it again if this visit to the brothel didn't turn out well. I opened the door and walked through the blood stained halls, the same as yesterday, there were still stains from the fight, well from the men that didn't make it, on the floors and on the walls, it seemed they didn't bother to clean their blood off of well, anything. A man stood in front of me at the bottom of the staircase.

"I know you, you were the girl from yesterday, you killed 10 of our members." He said, blocking my way.

"Yes, take that as a sign, you should really stay out of my way." I warned.

"Why are you here?" He demanded.

"Not to talk to you." I smiled. "Now if you don't mind." I pushed past him but as i reached the first step he stopped me.

"I do mind, actually." He said. I grabbed his arm and twisted it, making him face the ground, i pushed him onto the floor and kicked him in the guts once.

"Why does no one ever want to do this the easy way?" I asked rhetorically. He began to move and i dug my heel into his chest, pushing him back down again. "Honestly it's like you're asking to get your asses kicked." I said before turning to walk up the stairs. I reached the top level and the same place i had stood the day before, i stared at the door for a moment, remembering what occurred yesterday when i went inside. I kicked open the door and strutted inside, i stood in front of his desk, folded my arms and smiled at him. He stared at me, trembling with fear.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked.

"I came to apologise." I walked to the side of his desk and leant on the edge of it.

"Really?" He asked with surprise.

"No." I shook my head then stared at him with piercing eyes.

"What the hell do you want then? If this is about what your boyfriend was asking about yesterday i told him already i don't know anything else." He replied.

"About that." I started. "What'd he ask you about?" I leaned closely toward him.

"If you don't know why don't you just ask him. You two are obviously close since you killed 10 of my members for him." He raised his eyebrows.

"Now i've had a really bad past day, so i'm going to give you one more chance, ask you one more time what did he want to know?" I demanded.

"That's classified." He replied, smirking.

"Wrong answer." I leapt to my feet, grabbed him and shoved him up against the wall. "You saw me kill those men last night, now i suggest that if you don't want to join them, then you tell me what i want to know. I ordered pressing him hard against the wall. He didn't reply. "More motivation? Alright then." I lifted my right arm and secured my hand around his neck, holding him against the wall still, almost cutting off his airway. "Ready to talk?"

He nodded in agreement. I released his neck but still had him backed up against the wall.

"It's like the people in this place want me to torture them, honestly just tell me what i want to know and we won't have a problem." I warned.

"Alright, alright." He was trying to catch his breath. "Your boyfriend, or whatever he is, came in here asking about a group of men, they kill people, they go by the name of 'red anarchy', you don't want to mess with them, they went out of business for a while and they're back now, your friend was asking where they were, um they have a symbol? If that helps, it's kind of their trademark, they either carry it with them or wear it, draw it on their victims or in their victims houses." He handed me a piece of paper with a picture of a red circle with an A inside it, 'anarchy' killed my father.

"These people, 'anarchy', they killed my father, who are they? Why'd they kill him?" I demanded.

"Listen lady, i don't even know who you are-" I cut him off, grabbing him by the neck again and slamming him onto the table.

"Now we both know you do, a random girl kills 10 of your men without struggle, of course you know who i am, you looked it up as soon as the last of your men were dead." I tightened my grip on his neck. "I lost my father at 15 because of these men, an innocent man killed, and i've sworn to myself if i found out who killed him, i would get my revenge, so if i were you, i wouldn't stand in my way. Now answer my question." A tear rolled down my face.

"I only know one of their names!" He spat out. "The shooter, the one that shot your father, i know his name, the others i have no clue." He continued.

"Well?" I asked fiercely. He clenched his teeth as my grip tightened, his face turning _red_.

"Salvatore! His last name is Salvatore! That's all i know, i swear!" He shouted. I stopped for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts, no wonder Damon didn't want me to come yesterday, he was coming to talk to the man about he and the others that killed my father. My body ached, the hurt i was feeling was overtaking my senses, the sound of my heart breaking echoed in my mind.

"Let go" The man struggled to say. I released him and pushed him to the ground, i watched as he gasped for air.

"I'm so sorry." I said to him, suddenly realising what i had done. I had let my anger, my determination take control of me, just like i had done yesterday when i killed 10 not so innocent people. I turned to leave, my eyes _red_ from my tears.

"Oh and now i know who you are, and who you're connected with, i _will_ come for you." The man warned, choking on air.

"Good luck with that." I continued to walk away.

* * *

It was pitch black now, i had been sitting in my car outside Damon's dorm for about 2 hours, trying to think of what to say, how to do this, how to confront him. I picked up my phone, i had 25 missed calls from Damon and 36 messages. My tears began pouring out again from reading them, "Stop it, Elena, you're not that scared little girl anymore, don't cry." I told myself, gaining the courage i needed to get out of my car and go upstairs to Damon's dorm. I stood outside his door thinking over what i would say, what i would do, i had an entire speech planned, my body was still aching, my heart was still breaking, but i powered through and i brought my right hand to knock on Damon's door, he took a moment to get up and while he did i reconsidered my whole plan, just as i turned to leave, Damon answered the door.

"Oh thank God!" I've been calling you all day!" He said.

Tears came running down my face. "You killed my father!" I yelled at him.


	8. Chapter 7: Betrayal

It was pitch black now, i had been sitting in my car outside Damon's dorm for about 2 hours, trying to think of what to say, how to do this, how to confront him. I picked up my phone, i had 25 missed calls from Damon and 36 messages. My tears began pouring out again from reading them, "Stop it, Elena, you're not that scared little girl anymore, don't cry." I told myself, gaining the courage i needed to get out of my car and go upstairs to Damon's dorm. I stood outside his door thinking over what i would say, what i would do, i had an entire speech planned, my body was still aching, my heart was still breaking, but i powered through and i brought my right hand to knock on Damon's door, he took a moment to get up and while he did i reconsidered my whole plan, just as i turned to leave, Damon answered the door.

"Oh thank God!" I've been calling you all day!" He said.

Tears came running down my face. "You killed my father!" I yelled at him.

Damon stood still, shocked. He didn't move, just stared at me with his mouth open, he didn't admit to it, but he didn't deny it either.

"Say something!" I demanded. I could no longer the speech i had memorized in my mind, my mind turned blank as i stood in front of him.

"Elena i-" He began.

"You what?" I shouted at him.

"There's so much you don't know, and so many things that i have wanted to tell you but i just, i couldn't bring myself to do it, i wanted to stay away from you, that would've made things easier, but from the moment i saw you i just i just couldn't, let me explain-" He continued. "Did you kill my father, yes or no?!" I interrupted, shouting. He stood still with his jaw clenched, he just stared at me, i could see the muscle in his jaw flex, he was uncomfortable with this situation, but hell i think i was the one more uncomfortable. I stayed in my place, keeping my distance from him, tears rolling down my face, my fists clenched. He swallowed and opened his mouth slightly.

He paused, trying to find a better answer but all he could find was the truth. "Yes." Damon finally replied. I gasped, i was hoping they were wrong, i was hoping that i could say that i was sorry for accusing him, i was hoping that the man i loved wasn't the man who ruined my life, but in that moment, all my hopes, all my happiness came crashing down, all my emotions were overwhelming me.

"Oh my god." I said with a catch in my throat. I started backing away.

"Elena-" "Stay away from me!" I interrupted him again, backing into the wall. He followed me and stood close, he raised his hand to stroke my cheek but i flinched, my head turned to the side, my teeth clenched tightly together, my hands trying to grip the wall behind me, my eyes shut but overflowing with tears, Damon stroked my cheek softly.

"I'm so sorry." He replied. "I'll explain everything i swear."

I stood still up against the wall, shutting my eyes even tighter, not wanting to see him, and not wanting him to see me like this, bawling my eyes out. He tried to stroke my cheek again but i grabbed his hand. "Don't you ever, come near me again, or i _will_ kill you." I warned before stepping on his foot, punching him in the stomach and pushing him to the ground. I stared at him in pain on the floor for a moment, my initial thought was to help him, but the tears in my eyes reminded me why i shouldn't, i quickly ran away. I ran downstairs and hopped in my car, i jammed the keys in the ignition and started the car, but i stopped myself. I ran my fingers through my hair and shut my eyes tightly again, trying to stop the tears.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" I started hitting my dashboard and finally got grip of the steering wheel, i rested my head on it, sobbing. I sat up and looked toward Damon's window, he was standing there watching me. I opened my mouth and and scrunched my eyebrows, tears were running out of my eyes like a waterfall, i looked toward him standing there with hate, with sadness, with anger and with sorrow. I bit my lip to stop myself from letting out a large cry and turned away instead. I began to drive away.

I reached my side of campus and parked outside my dorms building. I turned off the car and pulled the keys out, i hesitated before getting out of the car and slowly walking inside to my dorm. I shut the door quietly behind me, aware of the sleeping Caroline present in the room. I didn't bother getting changed, i went straight to my bed to lie down. I lied still for a moment before beginning to cry again, sobbing this time, i closed my eyes tightly and slowly drifted off to sleep, tossing and turning.

The next morning i woke up and immediately knew what i had to do, the more i kept distracting myself the less opportunity i would have to cry and think about my recent discoveries. That night I walked through the library, looking in every corner, i stopped in my tracks when i found what i was looking for. I took a deep breath and put on a brave face before walking towards the table and sitting down.

"Hey, Elena." Stefan said, smiling.

"We need to talk." I replied, with a serious look on my face.

"What's up? Did you and Damon have a fight?" He asked.

I hesitated. "I know." I replied.

"You know what?" Stefan raised his eyebrows.

"About Damon, and my father." I replied.

"Oh." Stefan looked down at the table.

"So you knew?" I asked.

"I um- look Elena there's a lot you need to know about that night, when Damon and i were younger, about a year before, you know, your fathers death, these men came to our house saying they were recruiting us for some gang or something called 'anarchy'. They said our dad was a member and because of that we were also to become members, they told us what they did, they explained how they killed people, i didn't want to join, i didn't want that to be me, but Damon did, and it's not like i had a choice anyway, so we joined and then one night after all our training was done we were called to take care of some business, that was when we arrived at your house, Damon was so set on getting the job done that he didn't realise that you were home, he had planned on killing you and Jeremy as well but i couldn't let him, i was going to try save your father, but then i tried to save you, well, i did, i led you guys out and ran back to help him but it was too late, i'm so sorry Elena." He explained.

"Wait, you were there? You were the one who saved me?!" I asked. Stefan nodded.

"Oh my god." I replied.

"Listen, why don't we go to your dorm and talk about this, it's not exactly safe to talk about in public." He suggested.

"Yeah yeah of course." I smiled.

"Alright just let me go to the bathroom first." He walked into the mens room. I stayed sitting at the table, looking over the books he had been studying, he had "Pride and Prejudice" sitting on top of all of them. "Such a girl." I said to myself before laughing. That was the first time i had laughed in a while, ever since i found the symbol in Damon's jeans. Oh no, my distraction wasn't working, the thought of Damon made me boil up inside, i wanted to punch something, or break something, either worked, i was about to start crying again but Stefan returned from the bathroom. Oh thank god i said to myself.

"Alright, let's go." He said before picking up his books and heading outside. We walked down through the park and turned the corner to reach my dorm's building before two men appeared behind us, one of them grabbed me from behind and the other Stefan.

"Stefan!" I yelled before becoming blind from a bag being put over my head.

* * *

**Authors note: sup sorry it took so long to update, my computer crashed, but here you go, just a quick chapter, ill try update again soon, keep the reviews coming, i love hearing your thoughts, and thanks for reading guys :)**


	9. Chapter 8: Where's wally

I was shivering, lying on cold ground, the bag still on my head, i couldn't see where i was, somewhere dark and cool, quiet too. I struggled, i had been dosed with something, i wasn't sure what, but i couldn't focus, and i was only half awake, i fell back into a deep sleep.

A few hours later my eyes opened again, slowly, the bag was now off my head my hands were tied together behind my back. I moved slightly, trying to wriggle out of my ties but failed as i was still weak, i was sitting with my back up against a stone wall, all the walls were stone. They were damp and cold, there was no proper door in this room, only bars, like a jail cell. I saw figures pacing up and down the hall, guarding me, watching me, occasionally looking at me and smirking. I rubbed my eyes with my shoulder, closing them, i faced the entrance again and open my eyes, the man was standing, staring at me this time.

"Hey!" I yelled out, before coughing and passing out again.

The next time i woke up whatever they had drugged me with had worn off, i was gaining strength again, i struggled a bit, trying to get out of my ties, i turned around and noticed a loose nail on the back wall, i slowly got up on my knees and moved toward it, i rubbed the rope up and down on it until it snapped. Making sure no guards were watching, i brought my hands back out in front of me and rubbed my wrists, they were red from the cut off of circulation. I heard footsteps coming and put my hands behind my back pretending to still be tied up.

"Hey! Hey you!" I yelled out to the guard. He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at me, he put two hands on the bars.

"How'd you get over there?" He asked me, noticing me sitting up against the wall.

"See there's these things called feet, most people have em'." I replied sarcastically smiling. "What did you do to Stefan?" I asked, my smile fading.

He laughed at me. "You'll see." He replied. I frowned at him, unsure how to feel about his response.

"Hey! She's gaining strength, i'm gonna give her another dose, tell boss she's ready." He shouted out to the other guards. He used his keys to open the door and came inside, shutting the door behind me and clipping his keys to his pants again, i stared at them as he walked over.

"Come here little girl." He said in a creepy tone.

"I'm too weak, you're going to have to come to me." I coughed again. He frowned before coming closer and bending over, i pulled my hands from behind my back and grabbed his head.

"Bye bye little girl" I said to him before snapping his neck, his head landed on my lap. I pushed it off quickly before taking the keys off his belt. I heard footsteps coming so i hid his body in the corner then ran to the jail cell, quickly unlocked it and then grabbed the bars. The other guards returned and walked over to me.

"Hey! What are you doing, get back down, what happened to your ties?" He demanded.

"You're friend forgot his keys." I smirked, the guards reflexed and ran to the bars, i pushed them forward just in time to hit the first one in the face. The second guard charged at me but i ducked under his arm and pushed him in the cell, he landed on the ground. The other took a swing at me, i twisted his arm and kicked him down, also pushing him in the cell, shutting the door behind them.

"It's nothing personal, really." I smirked and then turned to walk away.

"We've got a runner." One of the men said into a walkie talkie.

"Just what i needed." My smirk faded and i ran down the hall, keeping an eye out for anymore guards. I turned the corner and kept running down the hall till i reached two options, turn left or right, i decide to go right but when i turned the corner 3 guards were running down the hall towards me. I sprinted in the opposite direction, going left. More guards appeared in front of me charging at me.

"You've got to be kidding me." I said under my breath. I jumped up and held the bar above me before swinging my feet into the first guards chest and pushing him into the others, i landed and pushed the remaining guard into the wall. I ran past the 3 guards on the floor and followed the hallway till i reached a set of stairs.

"Oh my god just kill me now." I continued to speak to myself as i looked up at what seemed to be around 10 bajillion flights of stairs above me. I decided that up was the best way to go, i wanted to find their boss, find out who kidnapped me, i figured that he'd be upstairs rather than down. I started running up the stairs.

"Quick, new drinking game, take a shot for every flight of stairs Elena runs up." I joked to myself. After about 4 flights a door flung open and more guards came out, i quickly reflexed and ducked under all of them, going went inside the door, locking it behind me. The floor was empty from what i could see, the ground was cement, the walls brick, little furniture, clearly these people have a thing for hygiene, with their moldy walls. I reached the end of the room and followed a door into another hallway, running again, but i was stopped at the end by a man, it was too dark to see his face, but he wasn't wearing the guards uniform, instead he was wearing a black hoodie, with the _anarchy_ symbol on it. I stared at him for a moment.

"Where's your boss?" I demanded.

"Right this way, sweetheart." He gestured toward the hall to the left, i hesitated to follow him, but i decided that it was either that or run up some more stairs. He made sure i couldn't see his face, just his body, staying a good distance ahead of me. I walked slowly through the hall behind him, turning around occasionally, being paranoid. He stopped in front of large doors and held his hand out saying for me to go in. I stared at him for a moment before pushing the doors open. There was a figure standing in front of a desk at the back of the room, his back facing me. I walked closer, but it was dark, i could only see his outline.

"Stefan?" I asked, reaching the man. "Stefan, are you ok?"

He laughed. "You know, i thought a clever girl like you would've figured it out by now." He said, smiling. I frowned, not understanding what he meant at first.

My jaw dropped. "You." I whispered, in shock.

He smirked evilly. "Me".

* * *

**Authors note: muahahahahahahahahahaha, that's all im gonna say for now, keep up the amazing reviews (thank you so much i squeal each time i see one) and ill try get another chapter up soon! :) 3**


	10. Chapter 9: For blue skies

**Authors Note: So i suggest that you get yourself a box of tissues for this one, also, if you want to add emphasis to the last scene, listen to "for blue skies" by strays don't sleep, while you're reading it :)**

* * *

"It was you, wasn't it?" I asked.

Stefan laughed.

"Answer me!" I demanded.

"Oh Elena, sweet, innocent, Elena." He walked close in front of me and traced a finger across my chest, i stood completely still. "Yes, it was me, i set up Damon, i lead 'anarchy', and i-" He smiled. "Killed" He stood so close to me there was only roughly half an inch between us. "Your father."

I quickly pushed him backwards and went to dig my heel into his chest but he caught my foot.

"Silly you, thinking you're quicker than me, stronger than me, naive little Elena." He held his grip before letting go, i collapsed to the ground.

"Why did Damon take the fall for you? Why did you kill my father?!" I shouted at him, slowly standing up.

"Well my brother, that i'm not sure about, he probably just wanted to avoid a fight, or even better, maybe he was just trying to get rid of you, maybe he just doesn't love you." He smirked.

"No." I replied.

"I mean yes he might of saved you that night but, i don't know, he pulled the same crap with my girlfriend." His smirk faded.

My jaw dropped. "Damon was the one who saved me?"

"Well of course." Stefan replied.

"Oh my god, and i, i told him that-" "Do you want the answer to your second question or not?" Stefan interrupted. I frowned, and subtly looked around the room for a defense mechanism. I nodded.

"Well, i killed your father-" I quickly turned to face him. He smiled at my response. "Because well, because i could." He teased. I charged at him, swinging a punch into his face, kicking him in his most valuable area, and pushing him down onto the ground. I dug my heel into his chest while he was still lying on the ground.

"You know what the best part was? The rush that pulling the trigger on that gun gave me, the thrill of knowing that that bullet had pierced through your dads skin and made his heart stop pumping blood, and realising that he was dead." He gritted through his teeth. I dug my heel into his chest even more, he let out a yelp.

"You're disgusting." I exclaimed.

"You should thank me for what i did, your father was a bad man, i saved a lot of people, i saved my people, i did what i had to do, Elena, your father did things way worse than anything that i've ever done, remember that, and remember how you look at me, when you look in the mirror next time, because all those people you killed could've had daughters too." He smirked. I loosened my grip on his chest, he was right, as much as he had killed my father, he was also right, i killed people, i was about to kill him, i was just as bad as he was.

"You don't know the first thing about my father, or me, say another word and it'll be the last thing you'll ever say." I threatened. Stefan laughed, yet again. He grabbed my ankle and pushed me back, quickly getting up then slamming me against a wall, holding me there.

"You should be thanking me, sweetie, now you can join your old man in the afterlife." He whispered fiercely in my ear, before raising a hand.

"Stop!" Two men burst in the door, holding back Damon.

"Damon?" I asked quietly.

"What are you doing here big brother? Didn't you get the memo, it was invite only." Stefan said, walking toward Damon.

"Let her go Stefan." Damon shouted at him.

"Don't you get it, she doesn't want you, she was so quick to believe that you killed her father, you gotta wonder why, i mean, did she ever even love you?" Stefan asked, teasing.

"Shut up!" I yelled, running into him, kicking him in the back. Damon shoved his elbow into one of the guards faces, and hit the other, before snapping both of their necks. Stefan sat on his knees laughing.

"Look at you two, fighting for each other, so cute." Stefan quickly jumped up, turned me around and secured his arm around my neck. "Here's what we're going to do." He started. "Damon, you're going to go home and Elena and i are going to finish our little chat-" "No way in hell!" Damon interrupted.

"You know it's rude to interrupt people when they're speaking." He smirked. "So you're going to go home, Elena and i will finish our chat, and then i'll let her go." Stefan agreed.

"I don't believe you!" Damon shouted at him.

"Do it." I said to Damon.

"Elena?" He asked.

"Damon, i can take care of myself, i'll be fine, but you need to go, now." I demanded.

"I'm not leaving you!" He shouted.

"Yeah, you are, cause i'm asking you to, and i'm asking you to trust me." I replied.

"Aw how sweet." Stefan frowned.

"Elena i can't, i can't leave without you." Damon argued. "I'd rather die than leave you here."

"That's not an option, go, now, please Damon i'm begging you! I'll be right behind you." I promised.

"Can we hurry this sap fest up because i do have people to threaten and lives to ruin." Stefan butted in.

"If you're not home in 20 minutes, i'm coming for you-" Damon looked at me. "And then i'm coming for you." He shot a cold look at Stefan.

"She'll be home for dinner honey, scouts honor." Stefan teased. Damon hesitated, but kept his eye un both me and Stefan while slowly walking out of the room, not wanting to leave me.

"He's gone, now what the hell do you want?" I asked Stefan quietly.

He walked so close to me, fiercely, that i backed up against the wall and turned my head to the side, clenching my teeth.

"Vengeance." He whispered in my ear. "So i'm going to tell you what is you have to do, and you're going to do it, or i'm going to kill everyone that you've ever loved, and make you watch, then i'll lock you up, and i swear to god i will keep you here forever, until you dehydrate and die." He pulled away and turned around, leaving the room, motioning for me to follow him. I stayed backed up against the wall for a moment, teeth still clenched, eyes tightly shut, heart racing, breathing heavily. This was the first time, in a very long time, that i had been genuinely scared, i was afraid of losing Damon, i was afraid of Stefan, and i was afraid of myself, what i had become, what my life had become. I took a deep breath but let out a large sob when trying to exhale. I pinched the top of my nose, in between my eyes, trying to stop myself from crying, and then ran my fingers through my hair. I hit my head back on the wall and then followed Stefan out into the hallway.

I stopped him in his tracks. "Please just leave him alone, i'll do anything, you can have me instead, just please, leave him alone!" I pleaded.

"Honey it's not you that i want, my brother ruined my life, he ripped away the people i care most about and left me with nothing." Stefan explained.

"It wasn't his fault!" I argued.

"It was his fault! Wether he meant it to be his fault or not i don't care, but it's all because of him, she's gone, because of him, our parents are gone, because of him, don't you get it, i don't want anything with you, i want my brother to be as miserable as i am, what i want is for him to feel the pain of losing the person you love most in the world." He continued. "Which just happens to be you." He chuckled to himself.

"Do what you want to me, just don't hurt him." I begged, tears forming in my eyes. I was desperate to save Damon, there was no way i was losing him.

"Don't worry darling, i'm not going to touch him." He elaborated, a large smirk on his face.

"What are you going to do to him?" I asked cautiously.

He laughed to himself. "I'm not going to do anything to him." He paused. My heart was racing faster than ever before. "You, on the other hand." He continued, pointing his finger at me fiercely. I frowned with confusion.

"What?" I asked. Stefan smiled evilly.

* * *

I stood outside Damon's dorm, when i opened that door, i would have to do what Stefan demanded, i didn't have a choice, i dreaded turning that door handle and hurting the man that i love, i couldn't do this, but i had to. I opened the door slowly and stepped inside.

Damon was standing in the kitchen drinking scotch and turned around immediately as he heard the door open. His facial expression lifted at the sight of me safe and sound.

"Thank God you're ok." He said with a sigh of relief, he walked over to me quickly. I stared at him, trying not to cry. He had a constant smile on his face.

"Smile Lena, we won, it's over." He cupped my face in his hands but i pulled away. I looked away from him, hiding the tears in my eyes, i couldn't look at him be this happy and know that what i was about to do was going to destroy that happiness. He frowned in confusion.

"It's not over, is it?" His smile faded. I shook my head slightly and closed my eyes to stop the tears from flooding out.

* * *

"You're going to go back to Damon, you're going to tell him that everything you've ever said to him was a lie, that all the time you spent together was just so you could find out who killed your father." Stefan began.

"What?!" I questioned, confused.

* * *

"Damon..." I started. I looked into his eyes and immediately regretted it, he was so helpless, he had no idea of the damage i was about to cause, i wanted to just hold him in my arms and never let him go.

"Damon It is over, but not just with Stefan." I continued.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

I hesitated and bit my lip to stop it from trembling. "When i first saw you, you looked familiar to me, i recognized your figure, and your eyes, the only thing that i could think of when i saw you was my fathers death. I thought you might have had something to do with it, so i-" "You what?" He interrupted.

"I thought you might have had something to do with it or known something so i became close to you, i didn't plan sitting next to you on the first day, but i planned for you to fall in love with me, i knew you'd open up to me and i-" "You what, Elena?!" He demanded.

I choked on my own words, I licked my lips and wiped my eyes. "It was all just a game, Damon. All of it, every moment that we spent together was a lie, everything i ever said to you was a lie and i-" I paused.

* * *

"Tell him that you don't love him, that you never have and that you never will, that you hate him, that all he's ever done is made you miserable, that you regret every single moment you've spent together-" "No! I won't do it!" I interrupted. "Tell him that he means nothing to you and that you wish him an eternity of misery, that he deserves to be alone and die alone."

* * *

I held back a large sob. "I don't love you, i never have." I smiled to mask my crumbling heart. "And i never will." I struggled, i closed my eyes tightly. "I hate you." I opened them and stared at him apologetically. He shook his head.

"No." He whispered.

"All that you've ever done is make me miserable. I regret every single moment we have spent together! All the lies, all the hate, all the lo-" I paused. "All the things you felt for me, all the things i- _pretended_ to feel for you."

"Elena you don't mean that!" He shouted filled with rage, he clenched his fists.

"I do." I whimpered.

He rubbed the nape of his neck and let out a short laugh. "No you don't."

I hesitated, my heart racing, my eyes flooded with tears, i brushed my hair off my face and shook my head. "You mean nothing to me, Damon." I stopped and took a huge breath. "I wish you an, an eternity of misery and pain and you deserve-" It was as if i had lost the ability to speak, i couldn't say these words if i tried. I scrunched up my nose. Damon was speechless, his jaw dropped to the ground, his eyes blurry with tears, the hope i saw in them earlier was hanging on by a single thread, and i was about to break it. "You deserve to be alone, and die alone."

* * *

"Why are you doing this?" I asked with a catch in my throat.

"Damon took the woman i loved away from me, he crushed every single bit of happiness i had left in my life, and now i'm doing the same to him." Stefan explained.

"Be better than him, Stefan, you'll find love again one day!" I pleaded.

He turned to look at me, his jaw trembled. "Tell him that you don't want anything to do with him, that you never want to see him again, you want him out of your life forever and that you're leaving town, that you're going home." He commanded.

* * *

Damon ran his fingers through his hair, he turned away from me and buried his head in his hands.

"Damon i'm leaving town. I'm going home." I looked down to the ground as he turned to face me again, his hands resting on the back of his neck.

"You're leaving?" He asked like a scared child. I nodded slowly.

"I want you out of my life, for good, i don't want anything to do with you, and i never want to see you again." I continued.

"I can't believe this." He stormed toward the kitchen.

"Damon.." I began.

"What, Elena?! There's still a bit of my heart in my chest do you want to rip that out too?" He shouted and pointed to the left side of his chest.

I swallowed and closed my eyes once more to stop myself from breaking down."Don't come after me, just please, stay away."

"This is what you want?" He asked.

I shook my head slightly. "Yes, this is what i want, because i don't love you, and i've meant every single word of what i've said tonight. Unlike anything else i have ever said to you." I concluded.

* * *

"And what happens if i don't do this?" I demanded.

"Then like i said, i will kill every single person that you've ever loved, starting with Damon and ending with that little brother of yours." He warned. I gasped and shook my head.

"You wouldn't." I warned.

"And after i've killed all of them, in right front of you, after i make you watch them suffer, i will kill you, slowly and painfully, just like i will them." He threatened.

* * *

Damon nodded in agreement. I needed to leave but i knew that once i stepped out that door that it would be over. I hesitated.

"Goodbye, Damon." I paused for a moment before placing a small kiss on his lips, immediately regretting it. He turned his head to the side, trying to stop himself from crying, he refused to look at me. I turned and quickly walked out the door, slamming it shut behind me.

* * *

"Fine. I'll do it, just promise to leave the people i care about alone?" I asked.

"You just made a deal with the devil." Stefan smirked.

* * *

Elena stopped outside Damon's door, she stared at it for a while before turning around and slamming her back into it. She hit her head on the door a couple of times, punishing herself for the sins that had just occurred on her behalf. She paused, still with her back up against the door before sliding down it till she sat on the cold ground. Her face was covered with fallen tears and her eyes filled with fresh ones. Damon stood on the other side of the door, he stood there for a while and thought over the events that had just occurred, attempting to process it. When it all finally caught up to him he threw the lamp sitting on the table next to him at the wall, he pushed books off desks, he threw Stefan's stuff out the window, and he punched the glass window. Elena covered her mouth at the sound, trying to stop herself from whimpering, she couldn't let him know she was still there listening to him. Damon stood at the broken window sill, he held his hand out assessing the damage he had done. When he realized that his hand still worked properly he picked up a book and threw it at the wall.

"How could you do this to me?! I know how, Damon! No one will ever love you, they never have and they never will, and it's all because of you!" He chucked a candle out the window. "It's because of your stupid smart ass comments, your incapability to comfort people, it's because you're a terrible-" He kicked a chair over. Elena tightened her grip on her mouth trying not to make a sound, tears were gushing out of her eyes. "Selfish-" He now headed over to his bookshelf that contained all his photo frames, he picked one up of he and Stefan, he stared at it for a second before throwing it out the window.

Elena released her hand from her mouth, she shook her head. "Stop." She whispered to herself.

"Idiot!" He picked up a picture of him and Elena and aimed for the wall but stopped himself. He brought the picture into view and stared at it for a moment, he stroked Elena's cheek with his thumb. He looked up and let a tear fall.

"Stop, please stop" Elena continued.

He put the photo frame back and walked over towards the door. He put his hand on the handle about to open the door but stopped himself as he replayed her words in his mind. "I don't love you, you deserve to die alone, don't come after me.". He leant his head on the door and closed his eyes, allowing another tear to slide down his face. Damon followed this action and slid down the door, sitting on the ground now. Elena was sobbing, there were no words to describe the way that she felt. Damon sat up against the door. Elena pressed her hand up against the door, reaching for Damon, but one thing stood in her way. Damon mirrored her actions and did the same, as his fingertips came in contact with the wooden door, Damon's lip trembled and more tears fell. Elena stroked the door as if she was comforting Damon, and Damon dug his nails into the door like he was trying to hold onto Elena, hold onto her and never let her go, but every true love story has an end.

* * *

**Authors note: woops, sorry not sorry, btw it's not the last chapter, there's still heaps more, i've so far planned up to 14, but i think there will be more than that, yeah so, hope you enjoyed this torturous chapter, i actually wrote half this chapter after i wrote chapter 3, cause i thought up really good ideas for it so i wrote it back then and it took my so long to write chapter 3-8 because i was just not motivated to write those chapters but here you go, i'll get another one up soon hopefully! Keep up the good reviews, i literally smile at each one owiejgkrag, share it around if you could, get the views up, it motivates me to write, so do your reviews, and if you have any questions you can as me on my tumblr (which is dobrevhs) hope you guys enjoy and thanks again! i love you :)**


	11. Authors note: Q&A

So sorry, this isn't a chapter update, just answering a few questions! There are tiny spoilers so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't read! Just if you want to know the answers to these questions.

So here it goes

**1. Why couldn't Damon tell she was struggling to say those things, and especially since Stefan wanted to talk to her? **

Well, in this scene i tried to use some of tvd Damon's main character traits, including his insecurity and belief that he doesn't deserve to be loved. So imagine if Elena, not emotionless Elena, normal tvd Elena, told Damon that their love was a lie, Damon would believe it, even if she was struggling to say it, he barely believed she loved him in the first place so. Second of all, he wasn't thinking too deeply into it, Damon and Elena had been through a lot in the past couple of days and hadn't really had a moment to just sit and think about it, so when Elena says that she doesn't love him, i mean, he believes it. He didn't really think about Stefan wanted to talk to her, kinda just slipped his mind, he was so worried about her that he didn't wonder why, he just wondered if she'd be ok, which i know was a bit OOC for him to leave her, cause he would die before leaving her in danger, but i had to make him leave, but he would've gone back if she wasn't home in like 20 minutes.

**2. Why didn't she just kill Stefan?**

Well, i've been trying to keep most of Elena's traits from tvd, and her guilt and compassion are very important, and i mean she already killed like 12, 13? people, not sure, a lot. So i was trying to emphasise that she's starting to feel more remorse for this, and it's actually sinking in that she killed people, that being said, it won't necessarily stop her in the future, she might just need more of a purpose to kill these people, like Stefan, he killed her father, and ruined her family. But, in this moment, he had the advantage, he was stronger than her, and she tried to kill him, but she also wanted answers. She had been searching for the man that killed her father for most of her life and when she found him she wanted to know why, she could just ask Damon, but she was in a little bit of a compromising position, Stefan had her there and she couldn't get away, or kill him, because she wasn't strong enough, especially at that point in time. Keep in mind that Stefan had been drugging her, so although she had regained most of her strength she was still a little weak.

**3. According to Damon and Elena finding their way back to each other.**

Well, i've had this planned for a while, so basically what comes after this is Elena leaves town and goes back to mystic falls, but she made a deal with Stefan, if she left, so did he, and i'll show this in the next chapter. But she goes back to mystic falls, you get to see her and Jeremy interacting, she meets a few new people, but conscious that Stefan is in mystic falls she tries to find him, cause she wants her revenge, this wether successful or not, opens up new opportunities for Damon and Elena to find their way back, but even if they do (no spoilers) there's going to be things in their way, and they're going to have to talk about you know the hole Damon saving her and why he didn't tell her and why he lied, basically they'll have to sort their shit out. But yes eventually they will find their way back, i mean this is a delena fic anyway so they have to.

Now that that's done, i'm sorry there hasn't been many like, romantic scenes yet, this is more of a dark fic, not much smut, less romantic scenes, we will have some from time to time, and we'll have some more coming but i have to get past this Stefan part first, then you know there's something that happens after that, and then after that, and so on. Also i have planned out the ending to my fic, i don't know how far away it is, not too close, i'm aiming for over 20 or 30 chapters, but i have planned the ending, so this fic is a lot more structured than my others.

Thanks for reading again! and all your reviews! i love coming home and seeing the number of reviews go up, i wish i could personally reply to all of them but tbh i do not know how to use this site. So if you do have more questions or comments, tell me on tumblr, since i'm on tumblr all the time, my url is dobrevhs, and i reply straight away! plus i have a tag for all my answered questions, so if you're trying to find an answer it will be there, I could also do a quick q&a session on a site called tinychat if you guys want, just to clear things up, if you want let me know and ill do it! thanks again guys! Love you all! xx


	12. Chapter 10: Come home

**AN: Spot the mean girls reference ;)**

* * *

I sat on the backseat of the first bus to mystic falls. My phone rang in my bag. It was Caroline, i hesitated before answering, knowing i was in for a huge lecture.

"Where the hell are you?" She screeched into the phone.

"About an hour out of Mystic falls." I replied reluctantly.

"What the hell Elena? How could you leave without telling me, oh and how could you leave right after shoving a stake through Damon's heart? What the hell is up with that?" She demanded.

"I had to leave, Care, and Damon, how is he?" I asked curiously.

Caroline turned around and stared at the drunken boy sitting in the room behind her, frowning. "How do you think?" She asked rhetorically. "What the hell were you thinking? You love Damon."

"I know, but he doesn't have to know that, look Care i had to do this, and i had to leave, please don't tell him i love him, don't give him any hope of me coming back, and god, please make sure he doesn't come after me, just look after him for me, ok?" I asked.

Caroline smiled to herself. "Ok, whatever twisted reasons you have for this, they're probably important so, i'll go along with it, but you are coming back, right?" She answered.

I paused. "I honestly don't know. Take care babe." I replied.

"You two, love you."

"Love you too." I hung up the phone.

I put my earphones in and turned up belong by carry brothers, studying the lyrics, thinking of how relevant they were to Damon and i, before i ripped out his heart and stomped on it. I shut my eyes to concentrate on the music playing in my ears, quickly interrupted by a body flinging himself in seat next to me. I blinked and slowly turned to stare at him.

"Can i help you?" I asked. He was scruffy, he had short hair, charming eyes, beautiful smile, and a great complex.

"What are you listening too, sweetheart?" He asked politely, his english accent making my heart melt.

"Music." I replied.

He laughed, his laugh was enchanting. "I'm guessing you're on your way to mystic falls?" He asked.

"No i'm going to las angeles but i thought i'd take a quick detour." I answered sarcastically.

"She's feisty." He smirked.

"You know there's like 20 other available seats on this bus right?" I took out my earphones.

"What can i say? I like the view better over here." He winked at me. My expression stayed cold.

"What brings you to mystic falls, love?" He asked me.

"College. Well, i was at college, and then life happened and you could say i got tired of the campus life, and well mystic falls is my home, seemed like the best place to go." I replied reluctantly.

"Sounds a lot like you're running." He replied.

"I'm not running, i just, there are things that i can't deal with right now, that i screwed up and i can't think of a way to fix them." I explained.

"So you're running?" He repeated.

I paused and scrunched up my nose with annoyance. "I don't like you." I said, before looking out the window.

He laughed at me. "What are you thinking about?"

"Trying to decide which window to throw you out." I replied still looking out the window.

"Easy love, i'm heavier than i look." He teased.

"And i'm stronger." I argued.

"You've got quite a sharp tongue, darling." He smirked again.

"And you've got a bad habit of not being able to take a hint." I mocked.

"So, who's the man that has you all drenched in misery?" He asked.

"Do you need me to spell it out for you, t." I answered.

"Come on love, it's a long trip, what's the harm in opening up to someone that has no idea who you are?" He asked rhetorically.

"Well you could be a sociopath, or a serial killer, or a stalker, or 70 year old pedophile, or your name could be Marka, never understood why people can't just call their kids mark or marco i mean seriously, Marka? What are they are a pen?" I looked ahead, avoiding staring at him.

"Well i can't guarantee the first 4 things, but i can reassure you my name is not Marka, you can call me Klaus." He smirked again.

"Klaus?" I asked.

"Short for Niklaus." He replied.

"I'm guessing serial killer, definitely looks like you've got a basement full of dead bodies." I mocked.

"Congratulations-" He gestured for me to tell him my name.

"See but if i tell you my name, you're just going to go write it down on your wall of victims and then i'll end up bleeding out in a basement with the rest of them." I continued to tease.

"I'll tie you up in my red room of pain instead." Klaus insisted.

"Really? You'd do that for me?" I asked sarcastically.

"Of course i would, take a chance, darling." He replied.

I hesitated. "Elena, my name is Elena." I finally gave in.

"Stunning name, sweetheart."

"Thanks, my parents gave it to me." I said like a smart ass.

"So now that you know that i'm a serial killer, and i know that you major in being a smart ass, tell me about this gentleman caller." He teased.

"I loved him, he loved me, we were happy, then things got complicated, secrets were revealed, so i told him that our relationship was a lie, and i ran." I explained hesitantly.

"I love secrets." Klaus added.

"Is that why you're hairs so big? Because it's full of secrets?" I mocked.

"That and i have rather dog like hair, i guess it's my genes." He joked.

"How bout' that."

"So where are you running to?" Klaus asked, bringing our conversation back on track.

"Some would say i'm running home, some would say to revenge, and others would say i've got no where else to run to." I looked out the window again.

He smiled to himself. "How far away do you think we are?"

"About half a mile away from me kicking your ass to the front seat." I threatened.

"Relax, darling-" We both stared out the window as the 'Welcome to mystic falls sign came into view' "Would you look at that, just my luck." He continued, smirking.

"You should count your blessings boy." I pointed a finger at him, jokingly.

We stopped outside the mystic grill, i smiled at the sight of my home town, everyone was so happy, so unaware of the evil that was newly residing in this town. I had made a deal with the devil that i would break Damon's heart and i would go home, as long as he came with me. I didn't want Stefan anywhere near Damon, especially when he's as heartbroken as right now. Klaus and i got off the bus and grabbed our bags.

"I guess this is where we go our separate ways." He smirked.

"Yeah, don't you have a basement to get back to?" I teased.

"If you ever need anything, here." He scribbled down a number on a scrap piece of paper. "I'll be around, i mean what else does a serial killer have to do with their time?" He asked rhetorically.

"I don't know, you tell me." I replied.

"If i told you, i'd have to kill you." He joked.

"Ha ha, punny." I laughed.

"See you around, love." He smiled.

"We'll see, love." I mocked, before turning and walking away.

* * *

I stood on the front porch of my old home, it didn't feel the same, i opened the front door slowly and walked inside, scanning the room, each corner of it reminding me of the reason i left.

"Jer?" I called out. A man stood at the top of the stairs, blood dripping from his hands, a black hoodie on, with the anarchy symbol on it, he stumbled down them. I rubbed my eyes, and opened them again, the man had disappeared. "It's all in your mind Elena." I told myself. Another man walked as if he were a zombie, out of the kitchen, he was holding a gun covered in blood, i backed away slowly, he removed his hood and revealed his face, it was Stefan. I shook my head and kept backing away until i ran into another man, i turned and met his eyes, it was Damon, and without thinking i ripped his heart from his chest and watched him gasp for air as i squeezed it before it vanished, along with himself, i turned back around to face the kitchen but Stefan was gone too. "I am going insane." I said out loud.

"Elena?" A voice from behind me said. I jumped out of my skin before turning around and punching the man behind me in the stomach, only to realise it was my brother.

"Oh my god Jeremy, i'm so sorry, you scared me!" I knelt down on the floor with him, he was trying to catch his breath.

"I'm fine." He spat out, one hand on his stomach. "I wasn't expecting you, or that." He stood up slowly.

"Yeah i um, sorry i should've called it was just a sudden decision." I explained, my hand on his shoulder.

"I've missed you." He exclaimed before embracing me in a hug.

"I've missed you too." I replied, rubbing his back.

"You left so quickly, didn't even say goodbye to Bonnie, or Matt, or Alaric, or really anyone." He pulled away.

"Yeah, i know, i couldn't bring myself to say goodbye, you know how much i hate those." I answered. "Do they hate me? Oh god matt, does matt hate me? I mean i broke up with him and then disappeared."

"He doesn't hate you, but he does miss you, you should probably go talk to him, and the others, all of them" Jeremy insisted.

I stomped my feet. "Do i have to?" I asked, sighing.

"Oh come on, don't you have dirty sorority stories to tell them." He put his arm around me and walked with me to the couch.

"Plenty." I teased.

"Well i've gotta go to work, at the grill, with Matt, giving you a hint here fyi." He said.

"As much as i'd love to talk to everyone now and explain why i just vanished, i should probably get some sleep, i have had a big past, like 2 weeks." I explained as Jeremy picked up his bag and headed for the door.

"Alright, but tomorrow, you're talking to them." He ordered.

"I will, i promise." I said giving him another hug before he walked out the door.

* * *

**AN: Now would be a great time to listen to come home bye One Republic, and read the rest while you listen (I like adding music for dramatic effect ok)**

* * *

After showering, i dried my hair with my towel and picked up my phone, sitting on my bed. I stared at it for a while, i had messages from Damon.

"You have 5 new voicemail messages." The automated voice on my voicemail said.

"Elennaaaaaa, Elenaaa, i know you're there." Damon laughed, drunk. "You know, you can run from me, but i'll always be the best you've had, the best sex, i mean. Come on i know you're obsessed with me."

I laughed.

He paused. "Come home." He said, with a catch in his throat, before the message ended. I dialed a number in my phone and hesitated before pressing call. The sound of the phone ringing, echoed in my mind, over and over until there was an answer.

"Helloooo?" Damon asked. There was music in the background, and what sounded like giggling girls, he sounded drunk still.

"Are you there?" He asked. I bit my lip, trying not to say anything, tears forming in my eyes.

"You've got real nice breathing." He continued. I smiled to myself, which made a tear roll down my face.

"Hope you enjoy the sounds of fun." Damon set the phone down on the table. I heard a girl in the background say his name and the rest laugh.

"Damon?" I asked, almost choking on my words. I was sure he couldn't hear me, but i didn't care. Tears were covering my face.

"Damon i'm so sorry." I closed my eyes and sobbed loudly. "And I need you to know that-" I was interrupted by the sound of the phone being hung up. I nodded slowly to myself before turning away. "I love you." I finished, before throwing my phone on my bed and crawling into it, hugging my pillow tightly, imagining it was Damon, i fell asleep, crying my eyes out.

* * *

**Authors note: i'm not very good at writing Klaus, apologies, he's not a character i study a lot so i just kept saying love and sweetheart but oh well. Keep up the amazing reviews, sorry again about all the heartbreak woops (not sorry) share the story round and i love you guys :)**


	13. Chapter 11: Love's to blame

I lied in bed for a while, staring out the window, watching the sunrise. The way the sun shun threw my curtains creating colours and rays of light. I smiled to myself, staring at one patch of light that was shining on my sheets, it was a mixture of blues and white, the colour reflected from my curtains. I traced the outline of it, i could feel the warmth from the sun run through my veins, my skin glowed where the light touched it. As i felt the rush of warmth run through my body i forgot about Stefan, i forgot about breaking Damon's heart, all i thought of was when i met Damon, and our first kiss, oh it was the most beautiful kiss, to this day it still makes my stomach fluster. I forgot that i was currently sleeping under the same roof that my father was murdered in, by Stefan, who was my boyfriends (ex boyfriends) brother, whom also saved me and Jeremy, oh god, it was coming back, the sunlight faded from my window as a cloud passed by.

"Me too cloud, me too." I said to myself as i jumped out of bed and put on a dressing gown. "The only thing to make that a more accurate representation of my life right now would be a hail storm, or a tornado, maybe a tsunami." I continued to talk to myself as it started to rain. "Perfect."

"I smell breakfast." I called out to Jeremy, while walking down the stairs.

"Your senses have improved." He replied sarcastically.

"Since when do you know how to cook?" I asked.

"I don't." He smirked at me as i walked into the kitchen.

"Oh good, nothing like poison in your breakfast to start a big day." I pushed him with my bum and grabbed a glass out of the cupboard, pouring orange juice into it.

"What are you doing today?" He asked me.

"Well i thought i'd go see Matt, and then Bonnie, but after that there are some things i gotta take care of." I answered, picking up a piece of toast and biting into it.

"Alright well i won't be home tonight." He waved the tea towel in the air trying to blow away smoke.

"Got a hot date?" I teased.

He laughed. "Bonnie and i-" He begun. "Bonnie and you?! Finally! I can't believe you didn't tell me this earlier Jer, i'm so happy for both of you!" I interrupted.

"Thanks? I guess." He scooped up the eggs in the pan, put them on a plate and handed it to me.

"Um." I stared at the lump of yellow goo in front of me. "Oh look at the time, Matt's waiting." I pretended to look at the watch, that was non existent, on my wrist and ran out the door, giving Jeremy a kiss on the cheek before leaving.

"Damon?" Caroline called out, walking around the frat house. "Damon, you there?" She yelled out again. A hungover Damon came limping down the hall.

"Damon?!" She ran toward him and he put his arm around her. "What the hell happened to you?"

Damon didn't answer, just lifted the empty bottle in the air.

"Right. Let's get you back to your dorm and cleaned up ok?" She helped him out the door.

Damon nodded, without making a sound.

I stood in the doorway watching Matt bust tables for a while, smiling to myself, he looked happy, reasonably at least, happier than me. I took a seat at one of the bar stools, Matt faced the other way, pouring a drink.

"What does a girl gotta do to get a drink around here?" I asked him, smiling. He paused and then slowly turned around.

"Well for a start, sweet talking the bartender's not gonna work." He began walking around the bar, to my side of it.

"Plan b: bribe the bartender?" I winked, and flung my arms around him when he reached me.

"Elena Gilbert, last time i saw you, you ripped out my heart and then ate it." He smirked and pulled away.

"Well that sounds unhealthy, i didn't eat it, maybe chewed on it a little?" I shrugged, smiling.

"I've got the bite marks to prove it." He flirted. I pushed him playfully. "Where've you been, Lena?" He asked.

"College. You know, frat parties, drunk weekends, failing classes, my usual routine." I teased.

"Yeah and i'm guessing Caroline's the sober, study-hard one now too?" He mocked.

"Hey i'm um, i'm sorry that i didn't say goodbye, i just had a lot on my mind and i had also just broken up with you, i didn't know how to say goodbye, i'm so used to being with you and Care and Bonnie all the time that when it came to change that, i guess i was scared." I explained.

"Elena, i get it, it's ok, have you talked to Bonnie yet?" We both sat down on a bar stool, Matt with a towel in his hand.

"No, not yet, i was going to go see her at her grams place after this." I answered.

"No need." Matt nodded his head toward a figure moving toward us.

"Elena?" Bonnie asked.

I got off my seat and power walked over to Bonnie before embracing her tightly.

"I've missed you!" I exclaimed.

"I've missed you too!" She pulled out of the hug. "Where the hell have you been?!"

I laughed to myself, preparing to recycle the same crap speech i gave Matt about 2 minutes ago.

"All better?" Caroline asked Damon as he walked out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist, drying his hair with his hand, Caroline handed him a glass off water.

"Define better." He said, taking the water and sipping it before scrunching up his face. "Ugh i thought this was vodka, no thanks." He handed it back to her.

Caroline rolled her eyes and followed him to the couch. "So what, you're just going to drink yourself to death?" She asked. He didn't answer, just poured himself a glass of bourbon. "Fine, ignore me, look i know what happened with Elena sucked, like sucked big time, but there are other girls out there and other opportunities in life, Elena would want you to be happy, to move on." She explained.

"I'm sorry, did you just say that's what Elena would want?" He walked close to her. "Because i can assure you, that's no where near what she said that she wants for me." He pushed past her, retreating to get more alcohol.

Matt, Bonnie and i sat at the bar laughing and sharing stories from the time we spent away from each other. I told them about Damon, well about the happy parts, about our first kiss, our first time, our first "i love you's", i even told them about our first fight. My phone rang in my bag and i picked it up, frowning at a number i didn't recognise.

"Sorry guys, gotta take this." I smiled before walking outside and answering the phone.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Morning, sweetheart." Klaus replied.

"Klaus?" I asked.

"Indeed." He answered.

"How did you get my number? Are you stalking me?" I asked sarcastically.

"I thought we already decided i was a serial killer not a stalker." He mocked.

"Changing my mind." I teased.

"Are you free tonight? I was hoping we could talk some more, get to know each other better, take a chance, Elena." He asked politely.

"Actually tonight i've got something on but- you know what, you can come if you want, maybe seeing this will get you off my back." I decided.

"I don't scare easy, so don't count on it." He smirked.

"Meet me at the grill at 8." I said.

"It's a date." He grinned before hanging up.

"In your dreams." I said to myself, putting my phone away.

Damon sat still half naked on his bed, staring at a broken photo frame, with a picture of him and Elena inside.

"I remember her telling me about the first time you two met, she described you as a 'self obsessed, overly confident, asshead' and then to my surprise you were at a bar together he next day, and on a date a week later." Caroline said, leaning on the doorway.

"She was right." He said in a low town.

"And you want to know how she described your first kiss?" Caroline asked. Damon looked out the window, staring at the stars. "She said to me that it was like the entire world around the two of you stopped, like time stopped, that the only thing there other than the two of you was fireworks and sparks flying, she told me that she had never been so consumed in one single kiss, or in anything, in her entire life, she told me your love consumed her, that you two had passion, an adventure, and even a little danger, and she told me that, that is all she has ever wanted in life, and you were the only person to ever give it to her." Caroline walked over to Damon and sat on the bed next to him.

"Even if Elena meant those things that she said, you were still able to give her that, and now you're single, and you can give it to another girl." She smiled at him, he turned to face her.

"Any other girl?" He asked.

"Any other girl." She confirmed. They stared at each other for a moment.

"You're late." I yelled at Klaus as he walked over to her, she was leaning against the wall of the grill.

"Sorry, serial killer stuff." He smirked.

"Alright well save some of that energy for where we're going." I warned.

"You know i have a bed at home? You didn't really have to drag me into this creepy alleyway, but if that's what you're into." Klaus mocked.

"Yeah that's why i brought you, here's a plan, go get yourself started over there and i'll meet you at half past not-gonna-happen." I smiled at him before walking down the alleyway.

"Harsh." He followed me into the dark fog. "Are you sure i'm the serial killer, not you?" He asked sarcastically.

"Shutup for a moment." I snapped and busted into a door at the back of a building, at the end of the alleyway.

"Where are we?" He asked.

"Do you need me to define shutup for you?" I replied.

"Sorry." He apologized and raised his hands as if to surrender. We crawled through a narrow hallway and reached a large hall like area, we ran quickly up the metal stairs, the building was run down, with poor lighting, and water dripping from the corners. We both crouched behind a set of metal shelves and looked below us. I heard voices come through the downstairs doorway and followed them with my eyes into the centre of the room. Stefan stood with another rather buff man, running a hand through his hair.

"Bingo." I whispered.

* * *

**Authors Note: yeah, idk what to say, just yeah, thanks for the reviews, keep em up, love you guys :)**


	14. Chapter 12: Trap of mirrors

Caroline lied on Damon's bed while he was in the shower, she turned to her side and stared at the photo of him and Elena on the bedside table and smiled to herself. Damon's phone rang next to it, Caroline picked it up and frowned, not sure who was calling.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Caroline? Why do you have Damon's phone?" Elena asked.

"He's uh, he's in the shower." Caroline answered, unsure how to explain the situation. "Why are you calling him? Aren't you trying to get him to get over you, not exactly the best way to do it." She continued.

"I know it's just, something happened, i had to tell him something important." Elena replied.

"Do you want me to tell him you called or something?" Caroline asked.

"No it's ok, i'll handle it." Elena smiled to herself slightly.

"Alright, well he's about to get out of the shower so i should probably go." Caroline concluded.

"Wait, Care, thank you, for looking after him, i'm so lucky to have a friend like you." Elena's smiled grew.

Caroline paused. "Yeah um, it's ok, just trying to help." She ran her fingers through her hair, stressing. They both hung up the phone. Damon came out of the shower with only his jeans on.

* * *

"Who was that man you were following last night?" Klaus asked as they walked the same way the had the night before, into the back entry of the warehouse.

"Just someone from my past." I said, opening the door.

"And we're back again because?" He asked.

"How about we don't speak for the rest of the night, ok?" I replied sarcastically.

"Whatever you say, love." He smirked. They walked the same way as the day before, sitting behind the metal shelves, watching below. They waited for a while before anyone came in the room, Stefan and a group of other men stood around a large table. A woman also appeared and stood next to Stefan, hanging off his shoulder, staying close. She turned his face and kissed him.

"Gross." I whispered. Klaus laughed at me, a little too loudly. The group of people turned to look at us, I put my hand over Klaus' mouth and started backing away slowly. They continued to stare in our direction. I put my finger to my mouth telling Klaus to be quiet. We backed away, back down the stairs and out of sight, out the back door.

"Few." Klaus exclaimed.

"You're an idiot." I smacked him on the back of his head.

"Sorry i didn't major in being a spy." He mocked. Elena rolled her eyes at him.

* * *

"Who was that?" Damon asked Caroline, walking over to his wardrobe.

"Um, wrong number." She replied. Damon chucked a pile of clothes in a bag. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Going to find Elena." Damon replied, putting on a shirt and picking up the bag.

"What? No, Damon you can't do that! Elena will know i told you and she'll hate me forever!" Caroline protested.

"I have to go, Caroline!" Damon snapped. "Elena's in danger, nothing else matters."

Caroline shook her head. "You lover her, don't you?" She asked.

Damon paused. "More than anything."

"Go." She smiled. "Just don't tell her what i told you, or what happened last night. Please." She begged.

"I won't." Damon smiled before putting his bag over his shoulder and leaving the dorm, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Klaus and i walked around to the back of the building, where a large garage door was opening, I pushed Klaus up against the wall around the corner and put my finger on his mouth.

"Does she know where you are?" One man asked.

"She's clueless." Stefan replied.

"So what's the next move?" Another questioned.

"I take them both down." Stefan answered before hopping into a car. I waited till everyone else was clear out of sight before taking my hand off Klaus' mouth.

"You have to go." I told him.

"What? But this is just getting interesting." He teased.

"Seriously Klaus, go." I demanded.

"Fine, fine, i'll go." He agreed before walking back and leaving. I paused, watching Stefan turn his car on and beginning to drive away. When i was sure that there was no one around, i jumped into a car parked in the garage.

"Who leaves their keys in the car?" I said.

"Hey!" A man running into the garage yelled out. I started the car quickly and followed the tracks Stefan had left in the dirt road, almost running the man over. The dirt road continued through areas of trees and bushes, the ground was muddy and the air was moist.

"This is creepy." I said. I saw a house appear in the distance, a car parked out in front of it, Stefan's car. I pulled up, not too close to the house and hid amongst the trees before emerging from the shadows and sneaking to the back door on the house. It was old and abandoned, creepy, like Stefan. I kicked the door down and with my back against the wall carefully walked through the hall to the room Stefan was in, there was no one else in the house as far as i could tell, just Stefan and i. I stood around the corner of what looked like a lounge room, staring out a window on the other side of the room, i had never been to this part of Mystic Falls before but i couldn't help feel like i had been here. I turned around and stared at the walls and starting to notice the similarities between where i was, and where i recognized it from. Without thinking i walked into the room Stefan was standing in, although he was facing me now, expecting me to be there.

"Where the hell are we?" I asked him.

"I was wondering how long you'd stand in the shadows for before realising where we were." Stefan replied, smirking.

"Which is?!" I demanded.

Stefan laughed and smiled at me, he flung his arms in the air. "Notice the staircase, the lounge room, the kitchen, where each room is?" He asked me, waiting for an answer, i just frowned and continued to look around before looking at him again, waiting for an answer. "Home." Stefan smirked again, and then chuckled to himself.

* * *

**Authors Note: SO MANY PEOPLE DON'T WANT DAMON AND CAROLINE TO HOOK UP AND I'M LAUGHING I REALLY AM, thank you all for the support and the reviews and i love yous :)**


	15. Chapter 13: Bleeding out

"Home? What are you talking about?" I looked around the room, suddenly his answer made sense, each room was an exact replica of my childhood home, the home where my father had died. The only difference being this one was old and run down, creepy looking, there were blood stains and water marks from leakages.

"Oh my god." I whispered.

"Welcome home." Stefan said, smirking.

"What the hell is this place?" I demanded, shaking.

"Ugh but it's such a long story!" He whined. "Alright. When i pulled the trigger on your father." He smirked. "I started following you around, you know separate from the group, and i created this place."

"You what?" I screwed up my nose in disgust.

"I knew this day would come, i knew that the day i would get to finish the job, i would get to kill you, but i mean, what fun would it be if it wasn't at the scene of the original crime? So i built this place, a replica of your childhood home." He smirked and gestured for me to look around.

"You are seriously, mentally, disturbed, i hope you know that." I spat.

"Oh stop it, you're too kind." He said smiling, putting a hand over his heart.

"You know you can't win this, good always wins, good always defeats evil." I warned.

"Well i can if good's dead." He smirked and started walking towards me. I gasped and ran back the other way.

"Come on Elena, this is your house, you can beat him, don't be that scared little girl." I said to myself. I turned around again and kicked Stefan in the stomach, followed by pushing him over and running past him. The only way to beat him was to outsmart him, he was stronger, faster, and had more experience in killing people. I ran up the stairs and towards 'my room'.

"I love it when they run." He shouted after me.

I locked the door to 'my room' behind me and backed away. I could hear Stefan trying to open it on the other side, i knew it wouldn't hold him long. I turned around and ran into the conjoined bathroom, the one i would share with Jeremy, locking the door behind me again, hearing Stefan kick down my bedroom door.

"You can run but you can't hide!" He yelled, looking around the room. I quietly snuck out the other bathroom door into Jeremy's room and ran down the stairs, quickly hid in the cupboard that was in the living room, waiting for an opportunity to jump out at him. I could hear him coming down the stairs, i backed up against the side of the cupboard and held my breath, trying to slow my heart down, i played and replayed different strategies in my mind, trying to find one that was guaranteed to succeed. Stefan stood in front of the cupboard and smiled. He leant on it closely, now seemed like a good time to make a move, but my body didn't agree, it just stayed still and trembled in fear. I bit my lip to stop myself from making a noise, and closed my eyes to concentrate. Stefan smirked and shook his head before ripping the doors off the cupboard. My eyes shot open and my reflexes kicked in, i kicked him back again, but he didn't go far. I tried to run but he caught me, holding me from behind and then throwing me into the corner. He walked over to me slowly, i was trying to stand but my legs were so weak, i was bleeding. Stefan crouched down in front of me.

"You know, this has been fun, but i always get the job done." He said in a low tone.

"Stop!" A voice yelled out from behind Stefan. Damon stood with a gun in his hand, it was pointing directly at Stefan.

"Well well, look who finally decided to join in the fun." Stefan said.

"Let her go, Stefan!" He demanded.

"Damon." I whispered, i was wondering if i was dead, and this was just a dream, my hero coming to rescue me, my knight in shining armor.

"Well where's the fun in that?" Stefan asked, slowly standing up, with his hands held above his head.

"I said let her go!" Damon shouted at his brother, the gun still pointed at Stefan.

"Don't you want to fix your past mistakes, hey? Do what you should've done years ago? Instead of ruining everything and letting her go, don't you just want to pull that trigger on your biggest betrayal ever?!" Stefan pushed Damon and knocked the gun out of his hand.

"The only mistake i ever made was trusting you, brother!" Damon punched Stefan right in the jaw.

"Now that's not very nice, big brother." Stefan, rubbed his jaw before tackling Damon, pushing him into the corner. I quickly stood up, seeing Damon suddenly gave me strength to fight. Damon's back slid down the wall and Stefan repeatedly threw punches at him, but Damon knocked him over and stood up. I spotted the gun on the ground a few steps in front of me and ran for it. Stefan got up but Damon put his arms around him, holding him still.

"Stefan!" I yelled, pointing the gun at him. Both the boys stopped moving, but Damon still held Stefan still.

"Move out of the way, Damon." I demanded.

"Elena if i let go, he's going to get away." Damon argued.

"If i shoot him, there's a 50% i could miss and it would hit you!" I shouted, Stefan stood there smirking.

"It's a risk i'm willing to take, Elena!" Damon yelled, holding onto Stefan tighter.

"Well i'm not!" My hands were shaking, still holding the gun.

"Shoot now, Elena!" Damon was struggling to hold Stefan any longer. I shook my head slightly, my eyes filled with tears. I closed my eyes and i took it in, deep breaths, trying to focus.

"1" I started counting to myself, whispering, eyes still closed.

"2" I thought back to the moment i first saw Damon, pictures of him getting out of his car in his leather jacket flashed in my mind.

"3" I remembered smashing him in pool at hell's bar, and then running for our lives.

"4" Clips of our first kiss played and then fast forwarded to the first time we had sex, my body tingled as i remembered how his hands felt on my body.

"5" I could see us sitting in the motel room, and Damon was so scared. "I love you, Elena." those words rang in my mind, echoing.

"6" I saw myself finding the anarchy symbol in his jeans, then hitting the wall in anger outside his dorm, crying.

"7" Then i saw the moment i found out about anarchy, and the steps i took to reach Damon's dorm.

"8" I was at Damon's dorm. "You killed my father!" I hit his chest repeatedly and then pushed him away. Telling him to stay away from me.

"9" These words echoed in my mind. "I don't love you Damon. How could you do this to me? All you've ever done is cause me misery and pain. I'm leaving town. Damon? I'm so sorry. You don't deserve to be loved. I need you to know that, i love you." I saw myself outside Damon's dorm, sitting on the other side of the door, pressing my hand against it, sobbing. I saw the look on his face when i told him i didn't love him, i saw our first kiss again, i saw myself crying on the phone to him, i saw him holding me in his arms, while i cried, i saw us making love, i saw us kicking ass, i saw Damon stare at me in class, and me returning the gesture, i saw every moment that we have ever had together, being put into one short movie.

"10." I opened my eyes and pushed the trigger all the way down before releasing it, it flew through the air slowly, and everything around us was dead silent.

* * *

**Authors note: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA dem cliffhangers, that's all im sayin ;) ily guys, thanks for your support and reviews, lovee youu**


	16. Chapter 14: DeJa Vu

I stood in front of Damon and Stefan with the gun held tightly in my hands, i thought over my options, i could take the risk and shoot, or i could try and kill Stefan with my bare hands, but i knew he was too strong. I heard Damon shouting at me in the background but too many thoughts were running through my mind to actually understand what he was saying clearly. I shook my head slightly, my eyes filled with tears, I closed them and i took it in, deep breaths, trying to focus. I thought about the day Damon and i had met, and what would have happened if things went differently, if i wasn't late to class and i didn't sit next to him, where would we have ended up? I created a scenario in my mind, it was the first day of classes, the day after the party that Caroline had dragged me to

* * *

I got up extra early to make it on time to my first class of the year, i walked to class with Caroline before departing our separate ways. When i arrived the room was half empty, i was just on time, i chose to sit 2 rows from the front, not too close, but not too far away. On one side a tall, petite girl with luscious and long flaming red hair sat next to me, on the other side, an empty seat. A pack of students came walking into the class at once, and all going straight to the back row. Following them, a lone rider, the dark haired man i had seen getting out of the car yesterday, and making out with that blonde bimbo last night at the party. Suddenly he was in slow motion, walking down the isle, he gazed at me, and then smiled, i thought he was going to come sit next to me but he kept walking, a couple of rows back, diagonally behind me. I stared at the whiteboard at the front of the room, trying not to be bothered by the man staring at me. The teacher finally walked in the door and started to begin the lesson, i slowly turned my head to see if he was still staring at me, and he was, but i ignored it and looked away, paying attention to the class.

A few days later i was walking back to my dorm when i got a strange sense that someone was following me, i looked behind me, yet there was no one there, so i kept walking, and then, running. There was no one in sight, i ran towards the campus gates, seeing as though i didn't want this person, whomever it was, to know where my room was. I kept running, blocks and blocks, and then slowed into a walk, i had reached the dodgey area of the city, there were bars and brothels everywhere. I stood in the middle of street, and turned around to see the figure of the man whom had been following me, i gasped and turned to run the other way but a group of bikers were standing outside some place called "Hell's bar". So i ran straight instead, into a building next to it that i didn't have time to catch the name of. I slowed down as i walked through the hall to the main room of the building, it was old and covered in blood stains, dripping with sex, reeking of smoke and alcohol. There were men sitting around and on the stairs, some had women on top of them, others just watching, they all stopped and stared at me as i walked in. Oh god. I said to myself.

"Hi, um sorry, i can- i can go." I said, turning to leave.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" One of the men called after me. I stopped reluctantly, then turned around.

"What's it to you?" I asked defensively. They all laughed. The man that had called out to me stood up and walked over, smirking. "What is this place?" I continued.

"Well it could be your accommodation." He said, and walked behind me, sniffing my hair, i stood still.

"Yeah no thanks, i prefer something with a little more, hygiene." I said before turning to walk away again, but the man grabbed my arm, and stared at me, frowning.

He studied me, thinking. "I know you." He said finally, still with a tight grip on my arm.

"No, don't think you do." I replied fiercely.

"You're the one that got away." He continued.

"Isn't that a Katy Perry song?" I asked, being my usual smart ass self.

The rest of the men chuckled, but the other stayed with a serious look on his face. "Elena Gilbert." He whispered. I gasped.

"Who the hell are you?" I demanded, pushing his hand off my arm.

"Not so fast." He snapped, grabbing me again. I stomped on his foot and then kneed him on the stomach, before twisting his arm around and holding him to the ground. I kicked him one more time and then turned around to see everyone staring at me with surprise, i waited a moment before running the way i had come in and slamming the door behind me.

I stood outside and looked around to see if the man was still there, but i couldn't see him anywhere.

* * *

The next day i decided to go back and see if i could find out what that man was talking about. I broke in through the back door instead of using the front. The main room was clear this time, so i decided to follow the staircase, i walked up to the top floor and stopped in front of a large door, it was locked. Using all my strength, i kicked the door down. There was a man sitting at a desk on the other side of the room, i walked over to him slowly.

"Can i help you?" He asked.

"Yes, i think you can." I replied and sat down on the chair on the other side of the desk. "Do you know who i am?"

"A very misguided girl who clearly doesn't understand the point of this place?" He replied sarcastically. I stared at him with a serious look on my face.

"Yes, i do." He continued. "Elena, Gilbert, everyone here knows who you are."

"Why? What is this place?" I asked.

"This, this is the home base of anarchy." He explained. I looked at him, confused. He pulled out a strip of material from the draw of his desk, with the symbol that was on my fathers killers. "Anarchy, they're a group of skilled professionals, they kill people, your dad was one of them, and everyone knows you as the one that got away."

"Who is in this anarchy group?" I demanded.

"I can't tell you that." He argued. I got up from my seat and kicked his chair over, with him on it, then crouched next to him while he struggled on the ground.

"How about those names?" I asked.

"Alright fine! Just get me up." He agreed. I helped him up and leaned on the desk. He got out a piece of paper with a bunch of names on it and handed it to me. "All the highlighted names are the ones that were involved with your fathers death."

I read the list and gasped as i saw two familiar names.

"Stefan and Damon Salvatore." I said out loud.

"What, do you know them?" He asked.

I paused, staring at their names before shaking my head. "No, i don't."

* * *

Standing outside Damon and Stefan Salvatore's dorm, i prepared myself to face my fathers killer, i didn't know what i was going to do or say, all i knew was they were going to pay. I knocked on the door violently. The tall, dark haired man from class answered the door, it made sense why he was staring at me so much.

"Glad to see you finally worked up the courage to talk to me." He smirked.

"You won't be glad in a minute." I said. "You killed my father!" I shouted before shoving my heel right into his chest, kicking him so hard that he flew back into the wall and sat on the ground.

"Elena i didn't kill your father!" He argued, i picked him up, grabbing him by the neck.

"Then who did?!" I demanded.

"St-Stefan! I was the one who s-saved you!" He struggled, gasping for air.

"Why would you do that?!" I shouted. "What did you get a kick out of letting me carry that night around for the rest of my life?! Why save me?! Why not save my father!?" I continued to yell at him.

"I couldn't be-beat Stefan, the only person i could save was y-you, and your br-br-brother. Elena i swear i was just trying to do the right th-thing!" Damon defended.

"Well i guess sometimes that's just not enough!" I yelled back, squeezing his neck tighter till he stopped resisting, and then, he stopped moving. I held him there for a moment, expecting him to move, but he didn't, i started to cry, i let go of his neck and covered my mouth with my hands. My attention was suddenly brought to focus behind me.

"You didn't kill my brother, did you?" Stefan asked. I was standing there crying, i turned again to look at the dead body on the ground. "Cause i wanted to do that." Stefan whined.

"You-" I started towards Stefan. "You killed my father!" I yelled.

"Woops." He replied and pulled a gun out from his belt and pointed it at me, firing straight away.

* * *

The bullet soared through the air, waiting to find it's victim. I kept my eyes shut, not wanting to see whom it had found. But i half opened one of my eyes, and then opened both of them completely, and quickly shot again. I had shot Stefan in the foot with the first bullet, and in the heart the second time. I sighed with relief as his body fell to the ground and Damon stood in one piece, we both stared at the dead body on the ground for a moment before looking at each other. In sync we started walking towards each other, then running, he caught my in his arms and pulled me into a firm kiss. His hands on my back pushed my body as close to his as possible, my hands on the back of his neck and running through his hair guided our kiss, one of my hands found it's way to his face, cupping it. Pulling out of the kiss, we bumped foreheads, my hand still on his cheek.

"I love you so much." I whispered.

"I love you too." He replied before kissing me again, even harder this time. Again pulling out of the kiss, he embraced me in his arms in a hug, before putting one arm under my legs and sweeping me off my feet. I buried my face in his chest as he carried me out of the tragedy that was our lives without each other.

* * *

**Authors note: THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER! There is so much more! So many more story lines and plot twists and the amazing ending i have planned for you! I also have a few happy chapters coming up, some smut if you're lucky ;) So sorry for the pain these past chapters have brought, but let's be honest i'm not sorry ;) Thank you all so much for your reviews! and for reading in general, wow! The next chapter might not come for a few days cause i've got to get my computer fixed, but i promise i'll get it up as soon as possible! RIP steffy, woops! Keep the reviews coming, they motivate me ;) and share it around, spread the word of the emotionally damaging fanfiction that is red love! Love you guys *kisses***


	17. Chapter 15: I'm not sorry

I lied awake in Damon's bed, listening to the drops of water pour out of the shower head, i smiled to myself, hearing Damon hum pleasantly. I missed the sound of his voice, i missed lying in his bed, i missed being near him, i missed him in general. His sweet scent all over his room, i breathed it in and my smile grew. I heard the water stop, shortly followed by Damon strolling out of the bathroom in his towel.

"Now that's a sight i've missed." I teased, examining his bare chest.

"Is it now?" He asked, falling on top of me, kissing me all over my body.

I giggled uncontrollably. "Stop that tickles!" I begged. He lifted his head up and then kissed my lips passionately, before rolling over next to me.

"We should probably talk." I said, lying down still, facing him.

"I was hoping to skip that part." He frowned.

"Damon this is something we can't ignore, i mean your brother killed my father, not to mention you saving me from him, i need to know everything, i want to be able to trust you again." I replied, with an apologetic smile.

"Are you sure you want to know?" He asked.

"Yes." I nodded.

He paused. "About a year before your fathers death Stefan and i were recruited by anarchy-" "Yeah i know that part, Stefan told me." I interrupted.

"I wasn't done." He argued. I raised my hands as if surrendering.

"When we were recruited, Stefan wanted to join, but you know me, i don't like anyone telling me how to live my life, or what to do, so i tried to resist. A few weeks later i started noticing things happening around me, bad things, they were trying to set an example that if i don't join, there'll be consequences. They killed my brothers girlfriend, whom he loved more than anything, and then when i still resisted, they killed our parents. Stefan's blamed me ever since, that's why he wanted revenge, he wanted to ruin my life like i ruined his." He continued.

I sat up. "Damon i-" "After i eventually joined we were sent off to training. The next year we were told to go to our first job, which was your father. I was going to try save him without them knowing but then you were there, you and Jeremy, and i had to get you out or Stefan would have killed you too. When i saw you, i felt as if my eyes were deceiving me, you were the most beautiful girl i had ever seen, and somehow you manage to keep that record to this day. I fell in love with your eyes from the moment i looked into them, your big brown eyes were exotic, beautiful, mysterious, your hair fell perfectly upon your shoulders, and your lips were as red as blood. Suddenly something came over me and all i wanted to do was protect you, i couldn't let my brother harm you, nor the others." He gazed at me, reliving the moment. "I tried to save him Elena, when i knew you were safe i went back in there, but by the time i did, he was already on the floor, bleeding, i knew he was dead, and if i didn't go with Stefan i would have been too."

"Damon i-" I started. "I never wanted to hurt you Elena, i would rather rip out my own heart than do offense to you. Elena i know i was selfish to not tell you, and i'm not sorry about that, because i am selfish, if i had told you, i would have put you in more danger than you ended up in. There is nothing worse for you than me, i can't stand that i hurt you, and i can't even begin to explain to you all the reasons that i'm wrong with you." He interrupted.

"Will you quit interrupting me?" I snapped. "If you're about to break up with me, i'm about to kick your ass, because i'm not sorry either, not about anything that has happened in the past couple of weeks, i'm not sorry that the first time i saw you i couldn't look away, i'm not sorry that i didn't know that i loved you as soon as i met you, because you were a jackass, you are a jackass, and i never thought that you were more than that, but you continuously surprised me, and from the moment we entered that bar onward, i fell deeper, and i longed for you to catch me. I'm not sorry that i don't care about your flaws, i see them, i know them, and i love them. You've been a terrible person, you've made terrible decisions, and going out with you proved to be one of my worst, because i took my heart and served it to you on a silver platter, because i fell too deep too fast, you caught me and i want you to never let me go. Because i love you, you idiot! More than anything and anyone, i love you, Damon!" I cupped his face and kissed him passionately.

"I love you." I whispered again. he climbed on top of me, grinding, i pulled his towel off, and flipped over, sitting on his crotch. I quickly pulled my shirt over my head, desperate to feel his love. He kissed my stomach, and then impatiently unclipped my bra, followed by almost ripping my pajama shorts off.

"Someone's keen." I whispered.

"I can stop if you really want." He said, pulling away for a moment.

"Don't you dare." I warned, pulling him in again for another kiss. He flipped us over, his lips pressed to my neck, sucking.

"You taste so much better than my hand." He said, kissing the outline of my breasts.

"What?" I asked, giving him a weird look.

He paused for a second, realizing what he said. "What?" He pretended to not know what i was asking about. We stared at each other for a moment in awkward silence before collapsing into each other again. Damon placed kisses along my inner thigh, then tracing the outline of my panties with his tongue, then ripping them off.

"Fuck, Damon." I spat out, grabbing his hair for support, my body aching for him. He teased me, his tongue getting closer to my folds.

"Damon!" I said in irritation.

"I'm getting there." He teased.

"Get there quicker." I demanded.

"Feisty." He mocked.

His tongue entered my core, moving in a perfect rhythm, causing my need for him to grow stronger. I let out a yelp and held his hair tighter for support, moving his head. He slowly pulled away, and then licked up my stomach to my breasts.

"Now. I need you now." I snapped.

"What's the magic word?" He asked, sucking on my breasts.

"Fuck!" I shouted.

"Not quite." He teased, before lifting himself up and entering me, at his peak. We moved as one, our bodies grinding, his bare chest pressed against mine, kissing passionately as we continued to thrust. I let out a loud cry and bit my lip as the sensational feeling of having Damon inside me overwhelmed me, my orgasm more stimulating than ever. Our bodies slowed down and Damon slowly pulled out of me, kissing me again before rolling off me.

"Did i mention how much i missed you?" Damon asked rhetorically. I giggled. "Hey, do you think that we'll ever get past this?"

"Didn't we just do that?" I replied.

"I mean, do you think we'll ever get past the danger and fear and get back to normal?"

I hesitated. "I don't know. But all we can do is try." I smiled and then kissed him again.

* * *

**AN: apologies for the terrible smut i'm such a noob, and sorry i took so long to update, but my school laptop was getting fixed and they still haven't given it back to me so i decided to write it on the temporary they gave me, i didn't do that in the first place cause i was scared my librarians would like read it and judge me forever or like put me in jail for the smut or something idk they're super scary, they'd eat me for breakfast, so if i end up in jail it's your fault and you can come bail me out, i tried to put in the 4.23 scene but modify it cause it was such an amazing scene, thanks so much for all the reviews, they're what motivate me to write! I love you guys so much for reading this, i'm starting a new story soon as well as continuing this one, seeing as though it's successful so far, so check that one out, i'll let you know when it's posted! :) Love you guys**


	18. Chapter 16: Trust

Damon and i had been non stop in each others beds ever since we got back from Mystic Falls, and it wasn't usually to sleep. We decided that maybe it was time to rejoin civilization. Damon, Caroline and i headed out to the campus library to do some actual study. We sat at a round table, staring at our books, unable to comprehend the act of studying. We sat, quiet, just staring at the pages for about 5 minutes before Caroline broke the silence.

"Ok so are you going to tell us why the hell you suddenly packed up and left?" Caroline demanded.

"I told you, Jeremy needed me, after Damon and i had a fight i felt like it was the best thing to do." I explained.

"Why don't i believe you?" She asked.

"She's telling the truth, Caroline." Damon interrupted.

"So what did you guys get up to while i was gone?" I put down my book and closed it.

They both froze, then looked at each other. "What do you mean by that?" Caroline sounded nervous.

I frowned. "I mean i was gone for two weeks and i would like to know what's happening in your lives."

"I stayed in my bedroom and only left it when i ran out of alcohol, which was like, once." Damon smirked.

"Healthy." I teased.

"Yeah i just hung around, partied, you know me. Cleaned up your boyfriend for you, he was a mess." Caroline smiled.

"Thank you, for looking after him, Care." A ringing came from my phone sitting on the desk. "I gotta get this." I said before answering and walking away.

"She is so going to take that back." Caroline's smile faded and she looked at Damon.

"We've got to tell her, Caroline, i can't keep lying to her, she wants to trust me." Damon said.

"I don't want to lie to her either! But this will crush her. She'll never forgive either of us." Caroline argued. I walked back over to the desk and sat down.

"Sorry about that." I apologized, sitting back down.

* * *

That night the three of us went to Hell's bar for drinks and some pool, before Damon and i headed back to his dorm to go to 'bed'. Damon pushed the door open behind him, kissing my passionately, we walked towards the bed, our lips never losing touch, he slammed me down on the bed and reached in his pocket for a condom.

"Hang on, i'll get one from the bathroom." He said. I sat on his bed for a moment before getting up and looking around his room, smiling at all the pictures of us, one was cracked, my guess is from the night Stefan made me tell Damon i didn't love him, the night where it all began. I looked at the floor in the corner and noticed a yellow bra scrunched up. I picked it up and stared at it, frowning.

"I found one!" Damon exclaimed, prancing into the room. I turned to face him, a confused look on my face, balancing the bra on my finger. Damon stopped and dropped the condom on the floor.

"This is Caroline's bra." I said with no tone in my voice.

"She must have left it here when-" Damon began. "When what?!" I interrupted.

"Elena, i need you to calm down." Damon walked towards me.

"Calm down?! You slept with Caroline!" I shouted, backing away from him.

"Elena-" "How could you?!" I demanded, interrupting again. I turned around, to run out.

"Elena stop!" He shouted after me.

"What?! I yelled, turning around and stopping in front of the door. "What?" I asked again, still shouting but quieter than before. I paused, my lip trembling, my eyes watering.

"Goodbye, Damon." I said before running out, slamming the door behind me.

* * *

The door to my dorm flew open, Caroline was standing above her bed, quickly turning around when she heard me come in.

"Hey! Just in time i was about to crack open this bottle of-" "I found your bra." I interrupted, chucking it at her. "It was in Damon's bedroom." I snapped.

"Elena it's not what it looks like." She began.

"You slept with my boyfriend!" I shouted.

"What? No, Elena, i must have left that in his room when i showered at his dorm!" She explained.

"Oh come on Caroline, unless you mean showering with Damon, i don't buy it."

"I didn't sleep with Damon, Elena!" She argued. "It was just one kiss! It meant nothing!" Caroline elaborated.

"What?" I asked.

"I was drunk and Damon was heartbroken, and we kissed, but we immediately realised it was a mistake, even while he was heartbroken Damon couldn't do that to you." She continued.

"But he did." I said.

"Elena-" "Stay away from me!" I interrupted, grabbing my bag from my bed and heading back out the door.

"Where are you going?!" Caroline demanded.

"To find Damon." I snapped before slamming the door behind me.

* * *

I knocked on the door of Damon's door, embarrassed, confused, hurt. He rushed to the door and opened it, hoping it was me.

"Elena i-" I interrupted him by embracing him in a hug.

We sat down on his couch.

"I know you kissed Caroline." I began.

"Elena it didn't mean anything i swear." Damon promised.

"I know, i know it didn't." I paused. "But i've been home for weeks, and you didn't tell me."

"I wanted to, I just didn't know how." Damon explained.

"I get that, i do but, i just, I don't know how i'm ever going to be able to trust you again." I looked down. Damon shook his head apologetically. "I know you were hurt, i know you thought i didn't love you and i'm so sorry for that, but Caroline's my best friend, you really wanted to hurt me that much?"

"No, Elena of course not! I wasn't thinking straight." He stopped and put his hand on my leg. "Elena, i promise you, i will never hurt you, again."

I bit my lip to hold back tears and looked away. "Damon." I began, my lip was trembling and my eyes were swelling from tears, my eyes met his. "I love you, so much." I smiled slightly. "But i don't think i'm ever going to be able to get past this." I said before letting out a sob. He removed his hand from my leg slowly, before getting up and walking into his bedroom, not saying a word, not turning back, he just walked into his bedroom and slammed the door behind him.

* * *

**AN: sorry i know this chapters rushed! I know you guys probably wanted more happy delena but woops. I posted my new fic today, it's called "Found" I'd really appreciate if you please went and checked it out, and let me know what you thought :) Thanks again guys, love you!**


	19. Chapter 17: Home sweet home

Elena inserted her key into the lock on her front door and turned it to the left, followed by pushing the door open and walking inside. She dropped her bags down on the floor and let out a load sigh.

"Jeremy?" She called out, but there was no answer. Elena stood still for a moment, listening closely, it was quiet, too quiet.

"Jer?" She shouted again, as she clenched her fists, walking toward the kitchen slowly, she stayed close to the wall, occasionally stopping when she heard the floorboards creek. She stopped in front of the wall next to the kitchen and backed up against it, waiting for another creek in the wooden floors. In 3, 2, 1, Elena jumped around the corner quickly, grabbing the knife on that was sitting on the bench and pointing it towards the intruder.

"Jeremy?" She let out a sigh of relief, before dropping the knife and flinging her arms around her younger brother.

"Hey, Lena." He smiled and gripped her tightly.

"What the hell, Jer?" She exclaimed, pulling out of the hug and punching her brother in the arm. "I could've hurt you!"

"I was just joking, relax!" He replied.

"I know, it's just i've been on edge ever since-" She paused. "Ever since Stefan threatened to kill everyone i love."

"That was two years ago Elena, and Stefan's dead now." Jeremy rubbed her arm, comforting her.

"I missed you." She smiled and hugged him again quickly.

"Missed you too." He followed Elena to the doorway where she had left her bags.

"So you're coming home for good this time? Jeremy asked, picking up one of her bags.

"I hope so." Elena and Jeremy began to walk to her old bedroom with her things.

"And what about Damon? Or did you two break up again?" He asked.

Elena paused, thinking back to her last few weeks of college.

Elena stood outside Damon's dorm, trying to convince herself to knock on the door. The couple had been on-again off-again for two years, ever since the incident with Stefan. Elena took one deep breath before reluctantly knocking on the door. She waited a moment then turned to leave, regretting her decision to come in the first place. The door behind her suddenly opened. "Shit." She said to herself.

"Elena?" Damon asked. Elena stood still and mentally whacked herself on the head, before turning around to face him. Her jaw dropped at a shirtless Damon standing in the doorway, running his fingers through his hair. Her eyes studied his shirtless torso, and she subtly bit her lip, noticing that the closest thing to clothing that was on his body was a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Um.." She muttered. "Uh hey..." she said snapping herself out of her trance. "We finish college in like two weeks..." She paused. "Can i come in?"

"Yeah of course." He said, opening the door completely and gesturing for her to follow him inside. He walked into the kitchen and got out two glasses.

"Want a drink? Bourbon? Whiskey?" He asked, staring at Elena.

"Damon i'm moving back to Mystic Falls." Elena started, but she hesitated to continue, scared that his response would not be what she hoped for. "And i want you to come with me." She smiled faintly.

"Elena?" Jeremy clicked his fingers in front of her face, attempting to gain her attention.

"Huh? Oh right, yeah Damon's back too, just not with me." She said, pulling herself out of her flashback.

"Come on you two are like meant for each other." Jeremy argued.

"Yeah well we're supposed to talk over everything tonight, decide where we stand and what we want, the past two years have been hard for us i mean i found out that the boy that i love was involved in my fathers death." She explained.

"Do you still love him?" Jeremy asked.

"I'll always love him, he was the best thing that ever happened to me, he took away my pain but still made my heart ache, although it was in an entirely different way. Every single time i saw him, or thought of him, i could feel myself falling over and over, i could hear my heart stop beating but then speed up as if i were having a heart attack. When he kissed me it was like the world stopped moving and we were standing amongst no one but ourselves, surrounded by the most amazing wonders of the world, fireworks would burst, stars would shine, sparks would fly and i would pray for him to never let me go. But even true love has it's faults, it comes with consequences, when you hurt you hurt harder, when you fall you fall faster and when you love, you love deeper than ever before. And you don't get to choose when you fall in and out of love, which is why i will always uncontrollably and unconditionally be in love with Damon Salvatore." A tear formed in Elena's eye, though it was not formed from sadness, nor joy, it was a tear of uncertainty, anticipation.

"Then maybe you should tell him that." Jeremy suggested, smiling. Elena smiled back at him and then dosed into her own world, imagining her and Damon in a parallel universe where Stefan had never come into the picture, where they were happy.

That night, after pulling apart her wardrobe, piece by piece, and practicing a speech that she had recited about 50 times in the past hour, Elena parked in the Salvatore boarding house driveway, Damon's old home.

"Damon i know that things have been... awkward between us and we just haven't been like we used to.. ugh no thats not it... Damon... remember the time when we bonded over killing your brother? That was.. that was fun.. NO... come on Elena! Hey Damon are you a fireman? Cause you're smoking! Ok no, think!" Elena said to herself, pacing up and down Damon's driveway. She took a deep breath in and prepared herself. "Damon, i know the past two years have been hard on the both of us, but i need you to know that i will always love you, more than anyone or anything, we were meant to be together, we both knew it from the moment we met. You are my destiny Damon Salvatore." She smiled and confidently knocked on Damon's door. She waited a moment but after no answer she knocked again, louder this time. Again there was no answer. Elena removed a hair clip from her hair and twisted it to the same shape as the key hole, before unlocking the door with it.

"Damon?" She called out.

"Deja vu." She said to herself.

"Damon come on this isn't funny!" Elena shouted. She looked toward the coffee table in the living room and noticed a piece of paper on it, next to a bottle of bourbon and a half empty glass.

"Damon?" She called out one last time before concluding that she was alone. She walked over to the coffee table and picked up the note that was placed on it. Elena read it quickly once, but then started again to read it slowly. Her eyes filled with tears and her lip started to quiver, as the words written on the page suddenly imprinted in her mind.

* * *

**AN: 'oh my god she updated!' yes i know it took me a while but i only just got my computer back plus ive been super busy with school, thank you guys again for reading i love you! comment, lemme know what you think :)**


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